ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - They've been called Oreos, traitors and Uncle Toms, and are used to having to defend their values. Now black conservatives are really taking heat for their involvement in the mostly white tea party movement—and for having the audacity to oppose the policies of the nation's first black president.
"I've been told I hate myself. I've been called an Uncle Tom. I've been told I'm a spook at the door," said Timothy F. Johnson, chairman of the Frederick Douglass Foundation, a group of black conservatives who support free market principles and limited government.
"Black Republicans find themselves always having to prove who they are. Because the assumption is the Republican Party is for whites and the Democratic Party is for blacks," he said.
Johnson and other black conservatives say they were drawn to the tea party movement because of what they consider its commonsense fiscal values of controlled spending, less taxes and smaller government. The fact that they're black—or that most tea partyers are white—should have nothing to do with it, they say.
"You have to be honest and true to yourself. What am I supposed to do, vote Democratic just to be popular? Just to fit in?" asked Clifton Bazar, a 45-year-old New Jersey freelance photographer and conservative blogger.
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4 comments:
Black political views are quite a bit more diverse than what is often reported. I hate the unwavering support that Dems have enjoyed from blacks over the last 40 years or so. But I also find that many of the black republicans I speak with have a rather twisted and loathsome view of blacks that is far from reality and often a product of their (self-imposed?) separation from other blacks.
8:58 Trying to make conservative blacks out to be racist is laughable and right out of the democrat play book . It's about fiscal conservatism ! Logic minded Americans recognize the government can't give them the life they want and don't mind working for it .
this kind of arguement makes me want to put 'tests' in place before a vote so people actually KNOW whats going on.
i work with a 'black republican'. she 'keeps her mouth shut' to avoid conflicts with others gushing on about obama being a 'brutha'. she says none of them actually know ANY of what he stands for.
sad...
9:14, I never said that a majority of conservative blacks are racist. I believe in fiscal conservatism, but Reps. don't have my full support because many actually believe in the "welfare queens in cadillacs are running up the deficit" myth. Many black conservatives have been the beneficiaries of entitlements during some point in their lives and are in a prime position to fight against this myth while still preaching fiscal conservatism, but instead too many would rather cower in the face of this myth just like they do when they face black democrats.
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