More African-Americans voted for Trump in 2016 than they have for a Republican in over a decade.
The United States is used to black voters voting overwhelmingly for Democrats, and African-American’s are the most partisan racial group in the U.S.
Republicans haven’t gotten more than 40 percent of the black vote since 1936, according to data from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.
A survey by UC Berkeley in 2012 found that only 1 percent of African-Americans consider themselves “strong republicans.”
Black Americans often times do align themselves as Republicans but they just don’t publicly say so.
The first African-American to hold a leadership position in the Republican Party, J.C. Watts Jr. wrote in his book What Color Is A Conservative? that “It doesn’t matter whether it is Colin Powell or Condoleezza Rice, Shelby Steele, Thomas Sowell, Clarence Thomas or yours truly — we have all been labeled expedients, Uncle Toms, Oreos, sell-outs, traitors to our race, and other equally uncomplimentary characterizations.”
African-American can face a lot of pressure from their communities to vote for the Democratic ticket.
Personal responsibility, family values and small government
The political director for the Morehouse College Republicans, Michael Roundtree, said that despite the pressure to be a Democrat he was drawn to the Republican Party because of their ethos of “personal responsibility, if you stay the correct course then you – you reap the benefits of that.”
The former national director for black outreach for the GOP, Telly Lovelace, said “Many African-American think that a black Republican is someone black who grew up in a white suburb, but there are many of us that are black and have lived in African-American communities.
“Black Americans often times do align themselves as Republicans but they just don’t publicly say so,” said Leah Le’Vell, who does urban media outreach for the Republican National Convention.
The co-chair of the Howard University College Republicans, Alexis Hasty, said that her political “influences came strictly from learning,” and that she became a Republican “despite my political socialization” back in high school.
Famous black republicans
We have all been labeled expedients, Uncle Toms, Oreos, sell-outs, traitors to our race, and other equally uncomplimentary characterizations.
Though black Americans are statistically much more likely to be Democrats, there are a number of famous black conservatives.
Alveda King, a former representative for the 28th District in Georgia and the niece of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., is a FOX News Channel contributor, outspoken conservative and vocal Trump supporter.
Lynnette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson, known on YouTube as ‘Diamond and Silk’ became famous in 2015 for their viral videos supporting Trump for president.
Dwayne Johnson, the actor known as “The Rock,” is a registered Republican from Florida, a swing state that elections often hinge on.
Dr. Ben Carson is famously conservative and is a prominent supporter of Donald Trump as well as being the only black member of Trump’s cabinet.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is a bastion of black conservatism in the U.S. capital, and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., is a prominent black Republican politician.
Rappers 50 Cent and LL Cool J, both African-American, have supported the Republican Party in the past.
Black conservatism’s future
Businessman and army veteran John James is a rising black star in the Republican Party, he filed in July 2017 to run for the U.S. Senate in Michigan.
He is a young – 36-year-old – black conservative who runs a business and is an accomplished veteran, and he said that he is an “unapologetic Christian,” who is “anti-abortion, pro-business and pro-Second Amendment.”
“I’ve been a Republican since I was 16 and a conservative my whole life,” James said.
As a black Republican in the Trump era of the GOP, James represents what the new wave of black conservatives could be, if he is successful in his Senate run he could help pave the way for more racial representation in the Republican Party.
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