Black Flight

While watching the Republican National Convention from St. Paul, Minnesota last week, I couldn't help but notice that almost everyone there seemed to be white. Wasn't it just a few years ago that Colin Powell and  Condi Rice and J.C. Watts where all prominently associated with the Republican Party, and it was only a matter of time before the Party of Abraham Lincoln would become the real liberator of people of color from Boston to San Diego?

             It turns out it wasn't my imagination. This excellent piece in the Washington Post contains several stunning revelations on the racial makeup of this year's RNC delegate pool. Among them: only 36 of the 2380 delegates seated on the convention floor are black, the lowest number in 40 years. That number is down from 167 in 2004, and 24 states had delegations with no (zero) black members. Only one African-American speaker, former Maryland lieutenant governor Michael Steele, was scheduled to speak during prime time at the convention. 

              [For Latinophiles, a CBS--New York TImes poll released last week estimated that only 5 per cent of the RNC delegates were Latino, the lowest percentage at the RNC since 1996. Please send this information on to Michael L. Barrera, President National Hispanic Business Information Clearinghouse, 1225 17th St, Suite 1500, Denver CO 80202, who, in response to my recent op ed about the presence of Latinos at the Democratic Convention sent the following e-mail: "Just a thought after reading your story about the Latino agenda at the DNC. Just wanted to strongly remind you that all Latinos are not Democrats."]

                Apparently the Republicans have read the handwriting on the wall. After Katrina and Obama, why would they waste their time courting black votes. [For that matter, Latinophiles, have we noticed how McCain and his Annie Oakley running mate have not exactly claimed the immigration issue as one of their maverick concerns?] I guess it's no surprise that the Alaska governor was involved in a failed marketing business to be called Rouge Cou, French for je ne sais quoi.