By William E. Gibson, Washington Bureau
January 23, 2012
WASHINGTON
– Republican Congressman Allen West says fellow African-Americans often confess to him in a low voice, "I agree with you."
"I tell them, `Why are we whispering?' " West recounted on Monday during a Conservative Black Forum, a gathering on Capitol Hill designed to dispel the "myths" surrounding black conservatives.
"We can't have this fear of standing up and saying who we are," asserted West, a tea party favorite from Plantation who has attracted fans across the country. "We shout at football games. We shout at church. We should be shouting about the principles that make us who we are."
West and about a dozen black leaders said they want to break down what they consider public misperceptions about them and about the monolithic nature of black voters — and their habit of voting for Democrats.
But some observers say that black conservatives really are out of sync with most African-American voters, who reject Republicans after taking a careful and sophisticated view of the candidates and issues.
Here's a rundown on some of the leading "myths."
Myth No. 1: Black conservatives are exceptional and quite different from most African-Americans.
The "reality:" Black conservatives at the forum said they are just like the great majority of African-Americans and have faced the same hurdles. West, for example, grew up in inner-city Atlanta in a neighborhood near Martin Luther King's church.
But rather than look to the government for solutions, black conservatives see government as a barrier to progress.
Myth No. 2: An overwhelming majority of black voters are liberal-minded opponents of conservative causes.
The "reality:" Forum participants asserted that about a third of African-Americans identify themselves as conservative, though less than a tenth vote for Republicans in presidential elections.
"They think like us, they just don't vote like us," said former U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts, R-Okla., once the only black Republican in the House.
A rebuttal: The one-third estimate was once true, but recent polling indicates that less than 20 percent of blacks call themselves conservative, said David Bositis, a research associate and political analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a nonpartisan group that focuses on African-Americans.
"Even that description mostly reflects their personal values and lifestyle, not their politics," Bositis said of black conservatives. "About 75 percent of them have a very positive view of [President] Barack Obama."
Myth No. 3: Blacks need government help.
The "reality:" Several conservatives at the forum compared welfare and other government programs to a latter-day form of slavery, trapping people in dependency.
"Government handouts and big entitlement programs are used like an intoxicating drug," said David Clarke, the sheriff of Milwaukee County in Wisconsin. "The more government came to help me, the less responsible I was for myself."
A rebuttal: Though African-Americans have a high unemployment rate of about 15 percent, most are working and not dependent on government programs, Bositis said.
"These black conservatives want to leave the impression that every African-American is living on the street," he said. "But there is a large black middle class, and like the middle class generally, it has fared poorly under Republican policies."
Myth No. 4: Conservatives want to rip up the social "safety net."
The "reality:" West noted that the Constitution calls for promoting the general welfare, when means the government needs to help those who slip off the ladder of opportunity.
"But the safety net is there for you to bounce back up and get on that ladder and start to climb," West said. "Some people think the safety net is like a hammock, and you just lie there. That's not what America is about."
Myth No. 5: Conservatives have no solutions to offer.
The "reality:" West and other conservatives called for tax relief to create incentives for investment in "enterprise zones" designed to attract businesses and jobs to inner-cities. West said he is about to propose a bill that would reduce capital gains taxes to encourage investment in struggling communities.
Myth No. 6: African-Americans will vote for Democrats no matter what.
The "reality:" West said Republicans can draw more black voters by confronting these myths, promoting a conservative agenda and getting the word out though e-mail messages and social media.
Watts added: "Somebody who looks like us needs to be at the [Republican] strategic table."
A rebuttal: Obama received 95 percent of the African-American vote in 2008, and he will get about the same share this year, Bositis predicted.
He said West was elected by white voters, not conservative blacks. "I'll believe there's some kind of movement toward black conservatives when I see one of them get elected in a black-majority district," he said.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/elections/fl-allen-west-black-conservatives-20120123,0,43744.story
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