Barack the Magic Negro Song, the GOP, and African-Americans

by Latoya Peterson

From the Washington Post:

Republicans who are vying to lead the national party offered a mix of reactions yesterday to the decision by one candidate for the job to mail out a music CD including the song “Barack the Magic Negro.”

Chip Saltsman defended his actions, telling the Hill newspaper that the song — and others on the CD, which was mailed to party members — was nothing more than a lighthearted parody. But his rivals in the contest to chair the Republican National Committee said it carried an inaccurate message about what the GOP stands for.

My favorite quote:

And former Ohio secretary of state Ken Blackwell defended Saltsman and attacked the media.

“Unfortunately, there is hypersensitivity in the press regarding matters of race. This is in large measure due to President-elect Obama being the first African American elected president,” Blackwell, who is black, said in a statement.

“I don’t think any of the concerns that have been expressed in the media about any of the other candidates for RNC chairman should disqualify them,” he said. “When looked at in the proper context, these concerns are minimal. All of my competitors for this leadership post are fine people.”

Whenever I read about incidents like this (and there have been many throughout the primaries, the election, and will continue beyond the inauguration), my mind keeps straying back to Keli Goff’s book Party Crashing: How the Hip Hop Generation Declared Political Independence.

I voted for Barack Obama in the general election. (This should be no secret to regular readers of this blog.) But I still identify as a political independent.

And according to Goff, I’m not alone:

According to the 2001 study from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, approximately 30% of black Americans ages eighteen to thirty-five identify themselves as political independents. It is tempting to dismiss such provocative findings as a fluke, so in 2007, in conjunction with the Political Research Center of Suffolk University, I conducted a follow up study of four hundred randomly selected black Americans ages eighteen to forty five (the age range of respondents was expanded to incorporate the responses of those who would have been thirty-five at the time of the initial Joint Center Study). Our findings confirmed that a definite shift has occurred in how younger black Americans are defining themselves politically. More significantly, more than a third of younger black Americans no longer feel the need to conform to traditional party labeling.

(Goff, pages 4-5)

So here is what drives me insane about this whole situation.

Are we seriously saying that all these well-paid political strategists can’t see the writing on the wall? Thirty percent of young black voters identify as independent and in each general election, the Republicans still can’t pull more than 10% of the black vote?

Goff dedicates a chapter to the GOP in her book, titled “Can the Party of Lincoln become the Party of 50 Cent?” The section of the book goes into detail about GOP strategies for outreach to the black community – and the subsequent setbacks it suffered due to the racism within the higher ranks of the Grand Ol’ Party.

Goff also cites Ken Mehlman, former chair of the Republican National Committee, who made diversifying the Republican Party a key aspect of his work with the GOP. In the book, Mehlman explains that his upbringing influenced his embrace of diversity, pointing out that “historically, the Jewish and the black communities have worked together on a variety of issues.” Staunchly against bigotry, Melhman stood before the NAACP in 2005, famously stating:

“Some Republicans gave up on winning the African-American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit from racial polarization. I am here as Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong.”

Unfortunately, that sentiment was not shared by many in his party.

The rest of Goff’s chapter is peppered with political gaffes made by various high profile Republicans that helped to drive away black voters. Starting with Richard Nixon (who earned 32% of the black vote when he ran against JFK in 1960), the Republicans have relied on divisive campaigning based on race (soon to be known as the Southern Strategy).

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