Black Americans Are Thriving in the Republican Party
While there have been quite a few debates about why this is, there has indeed been a wave of prominent Black politicians being elected in the Republican Party. In the most recent elections, Mia Love became the first Black Republican woman in Congress; Tim Scott was welcomed as South Carolina’s first elected Black senator and the deep South’s first Black senator since the Reconstruction era, and Will Hurd became the first Black Republican from Texas to earn a Congressional seat. While there is more to securing the Black vote than simply having Black candidates, it is much more likely that a Black politician will have a better idea of how to tackle issues in the Black community than non-Black candidates. Black voters should at least take the time to look into what each candidate has accomplished in their communities before blindly handing their vote over to one party.
This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.
For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.
Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.
We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.
If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.
