THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 6, 1996 TAG: 9604060003
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A9 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: Kerry Dougherty
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
Several months ago I had lunch with a friend, a Democratic activist. In the course of conversation she said she believed that any black person who is a Republican is an opportunist.
My jaw dropped.
My first reaction was to wonder cynically what opportunities there were for any Republicans - locally at least. Democratic cronyism and patronage is so entrenched in Virginia that there have been darn few opportunities for GOP members, regardless of color.
But it was the subtle prejudice in this statement that has haunted me for weeks. It was as if the scales had suddenly fallen from my eyes and I saw what many of my conservative friends have been trying to persuade me of for years - that liberals can be every bit as bigoted as they accuse conservatives of being. It's just that the left-leaning form of prejudice is more politically correct.
For instance, liberals who preach the politics of ``inclusion'' and pluralism are often quick to ridicule conservative Christians and their beliefs. They jeer at ``family values.'' They dismiss women who oppose abortion as not caring about women's rights.
And they tend to be suspicious of blacks who have found a home in the GOP.
By implication, my friend was saying that while it's understandable that whites hold a variety of political beliefs, real blacks do not. They are Democrats. End of story.
Well, two things have happened in the past few weeks to get me thinking about this conversation: James Quash Jr., an African American, was elected chairman of the Portsmouth Republican Party. And last Saturday Delceno Miles, an African-American businesswoman, came within 20 votes to taking the chairmanship of the Virginia Beach Republican Party.
Opportunists or black conservatives?
I decided to run this thesis by Ms. Miles, who laughed at being labeled an opportunist. She's heard worse. She's been called an Uncle Tom, a sell-out, a traitor.
She prefers to think of herself as ``an independent thinker.''
``I was reared in a Democratic household, but I chose the Republican Party because it more closely embodies my beliefs,'' says Ms. Miles. ``I happen to believe that the African-American community is actually quite conservative.
``I know I was raised by my mother to go to church on Sunday, do my homework, study hard, take care of myself. Today I worry about things like taking back our streets, having safe schools, the need for more prisons.
``These are not things Democrats talk about.''
Miles says many blacks vote Democratic out of habit.
``Their loyalty is rooted in the '50s and '60s,'' she said. ``I ask my black friends what the Democrat Party has done lately, and they usually don't have an answer.''
Ms. Miles says she's proud to be a Republican.
``It's the party of Lincoln, remember,'' she says. ``Last time I looked George Wallace and Bull Connor were the products of the Democrat Party.''
The Virginia GOP was the party that stood for integration back when the Democratic Byrd machine and its disciples of massive resistance were helping to close public schools rather than allow black children in the classrooms.
``I think that many people who blindly vote Democrat every year have very selective memories,'' Miles says.
My friend's notion that blacks simply must be Democrats and if they are not, they have ulterior motives, is precisely the kind of presumptive thinking that has helped erode the Democratic base in this country.
Once Democrats were able to count on the votes of organized labor. That ended when trade-union leaders endorsed Ronald Reagan in the 1980s and a new term was coined that must have sent chills down the spines of liberals: Reagan Democrats.
There was a time when the Catholic vote in the country automatically went to Democratic candidates. No more.
Studies show Hispanic voters, who might be expected to vote Democrat, are instead lining up on the Republican side in places like Texas and the Southwest.
More slowly, some blacks are drifting away from knee-jerk Democratic loyalty. As more African Americans move into the middle class, it can be assumed that they will join disillusioned members of the white middle class - people who want to keep more of what they earn.
Like liberals, conservatives can come in a variety of colors. by CNB