Up until 1936 most African Americans were loyal members of the party of Lincoln. The 1936 election turned the tide. Seventy-one percent of black voters saw the changes the New Deal had brought to their lives and voted to elect Franklin D. Roosevelt to a second term. Challenger Alf Landon carried only two states, Vermont and New Hampshire, giving Roosevelt 523 electoral votes and a landslide victory. In 1948 77% of black voters cast their vote for Harry Truman. Although there were many blacks who voted for Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s, by 1960 black voters were solidly on the Democratic column. But even with a Democratic edge, pollsters predicted that the 1960 contest between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy would be close.
In an unusual twist of history, it may have been the unlikely personage of Martin Luther King, Sr. — commonly known as Daddy King — who swung the election for Kennedy. The senior King was a longtime Republican who had endorsed Richard Nixon. When he attempted to call Nixon because his son Martin was languishing in a Georgia jail for minor traffic violations and there were serious concerns about his safety, Nixon did not return the senior King’s phone calls.
Hearing of King Jr.’s plight, Bobby Kennedy contacted his brother and said that something had to be done. As a result, Bobby called the judge in Georgia and said that he would make bail for King Jr. He let it be known to the judge and to the public that the Kennedys were watching. JFK called Coretta and voiced his concerns. Suddenly things changed for the imprisoned King. Daddy King went to his pulpit the following Sunday and announced to the world that he was voting for Kennedy. Black voters around the nation listened. The rest is history.
That’s why it was amazing to learn in 2016 that Daddy King’s granddaughter and MLK Jr.’s niece, Alveda King, endorsed Donald Trump for President. The 68-year old former Democrat, whose only claim to fame and source of income is her King DNA, once served in the Georgia House of Representatives and unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 1984. She got religion in 1983 and was born again as an evangelical Christian. When she spent some time at a conservative Washington D.C. think tank, she was infused with a big dose of conservative Kool-Aid — and as Senator Cory Booker said during the presidential debate, she didn’t even know the flavor.
Although she admits to having had two abortions, King is now the head of her own pro-life organization called Civil Rights for the Unborn which refers to abortions as “womb-lynching.” The thrice married King — all of her three marriages ended in divorce — is the mother of six children. When civil rights icon Rosa Parks died in 2005, King called Parks an inspiration for the pro-life cause, likening the injustice of racial segregation to abortion. And following the company line is strongly opposed to same sex marriages.
In the wake of recent attack by Trump on Congressman Elijah Cummings and the City of Baltimore and the attacks on the four congresswomen of color, King and two other black ministers shuffled into the Oval Office last week to bow and scrape at the feet of the racist-in-chief, and defend their hero against allegations of racism. Certainly, MLK and the legends of the civil rights era who entered that sacred space to demand justice and equality for their people must to be turning over in their graves.
Malcolm X once called Booker T. Washington history’s greatest Uncle Tom. Unfortunately, Malcom died too young. Alveda King and her ilk make Booker T. look like a card-carrying member of the Black Panther Party.
Years ago, there was still some nobility to being black and a member of the Republican party. Many old-time black Clevelanders, such as The Call and Post’s William O. Walker, remained loyal to the GOP but also maintained their racial pride. Judges Perry B. Jackson, Lillian W. Burke, Sara J. Harper and Jean Murrell Capers were all appointed to the bench by Republican governors. Republican Virgil Brown served as a Cleveland city councilman and head of the Board of Elections and became the first person of color elected countywide to a non-judicial office when he was elected county commissioner. He later became director of the Ohio Lottery Commission. There were many lower-tier black Republicans who always managed to keep steady and well-paying employment because of their party affiliation but they always kept their integrity and never forgot that they were black. That was a different generation. They didn’t have to sell their souls.
Some people will remember the late State Representative Ike Thompson. Thompson served in the Ohio House from 1971 until 1990, representing the 14th district. He had absolutely no use for black Republicans. I always remember the words of wisdom he gave me as an up-and-coming politician: Black Republicans always come and beg for support at election time because they are black. But when you go to them and say the same thing the first words out of their mouths are — you know I can’t help you, I’m a Republican. Their party allegiance supersedes their racial identity, longtime friendships or prior associations. They can’t break from the party line.
I equate the current crop of black Trump supporters to Africans who sold their other Africans into slavery. If they were Jews during the Holocaust, they would be the ones ushering their fellow Jews into the gas chambers. How can any black person identify with a party headed by Donald Trump?
When the history books are written about the Trump administration there will be an easy way to identify black Republicans. Just look under the section entitled traitors.
C. Ellen Connally is a retired judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court. From 2010 to 2014 she served as the President of the Cuyahoga County Council. An avid reader and student of American history, she serves on the Board of the Ohio History Connection, is currently vice president of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers and Sailors Monument Commission and president of the Cleveland Civil War Round Table. She holds degrees from BGSU, CSU and is all but dissertation for a PhD from the University of Akron.
One Response to “COMMENTARY: Being Black and a Republican Is an Oxymoron”
Margarette Ghee
Absolutely informative and superb article. It cleared up a lot of questions for me👍🏾