5 Ways African-American are more like Republicans than Democrats

In response to the country’s rapidly changing racial demographics, Republicans have talked a lot about their intentions to start recruiting more people of color to their cause. Currently only 7 percent of African-Americans identify as Republican, but this was not always so. In the 1800s the Republican Party counted such illustrious Black scholars as Booker T. Washington as members and they were known to be aligned with abolitionists. However, this all changed dramatically during Herbert Hoover's presidency and after, as the Republican Party instated more and more racist polices in an attempt to attract Southern voters. Today, the ideology of the African-American community is seen as light years away from that of conservatives, but though there are some major differences, there are also some surprising similarities. Criticism of the 'Welfare State' Like Republicans, many African-Americans are often suspicious, if not outright contemptuous of government-funded social services. Black conservatives and Black nationalists in particular, feel that the welfare state is detrimental to the Black community. Both of these groups believe that African-Americans should reject government aid and instead focus on community empowerment, although they differ on exactly what this would look like. Church Values Over 83% of African-Americans identify as Christian, and as such, prescribe to cultural values very similar to the “family values” that are so often cited as being important to Republicans. There are many ideologies that come from this religious background -- such as a strong belief in marriage and family, an anti-abortion stance, and resistance to marriage rights for gays and lesbians -- that are shared by Republicans. Suspicion of Affirmative Action Programs Many white Republicans feel that affirmative action programs give Blacks and other people of color an unfair advantage in the job market and on school applications. Surprisingly, despite evidence to the contrary, some Black conservatives agree with this. Many Black people are also suspicious of affirmative action for another reason: Since lack of diversity in higher education and jobs continues, they don’t believe that the policy is really working, though they may still agree with the concept. Immigration Concerns Many poor and working class Americans share a fear that the more people immigrate into the country, the less work and opportunity there will be available for them. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen, however it is interesting to note that African-Americans are not exempt from this concern, generally touted by Republicans. In 2013, the Black American Leadership Alliance organized an anti-immigration reform march in Seattle to protest a bill that would have created more opportunities for immigrants to become legal citizens. Support For The Military Republicans often present a lot of rhetoric around patriotism and support of U.S. troops, although this is not always reflected in their actual policies. This topic, however, is also of great importance in the African-American community. Blacks make up 17.8 percent of active military personnel and 2.4 million Black people are retired military. Because of these great numbers, issues that affect the military such as VA benefits and general treatment of active military, are of great importance to both the Black community and Republicans. Sources: http://racism.org/index.php?optioncom_content&viewarticle&id1256:welfare01-2&catid56&Itemid179&showall1&limitstart http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_nationalism#Criticism http://www.understandingprejudice.org/readroom/articles/affirm.htm http://theblacksphere.net/2013/03/is-affirmative-action-destroying-black-pride/ http://www.theatlantic.com/past/politics/race/lemann.htm http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2013/07/15/african-american-group-immigration-reform-would-take-jobs-from-black-people http://www.armyg1.army.mil/hr/docs/demographics/MRA_booklet_10-ARMY.pdf http://www.statisticbrain.com/demographics-of-active-duty-u-s-military/

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