NPR: Bitter, Black: Working the RNC Party

Bitter, Black: Working the RNC Party

Bitter and Black. No, I'm not talking about big-chain coffee. I'm talking about the acrid tinge in the voice of of a man I met last night. He was one of exactly three black people at an Africa-aid group's party at the Republican Convention last night. He was serving food to a crowd of white, often wasted, and usually be-suited or party dressed conventioneers and hangers-on. The other two black people in the room were me and a female food server.

Okay, earlier in the night there was one other black person in the room ... a handsome, middle-aged gentleman who was a guest. He ran for the hills when the mediocre rock band started.

As we've said, the Republican Convention is over 90 percent white. (Being in the hall is kind of like reporting on the New Hampshire Primary or the Iowa Caucus.) The black Republicans in attendance have been making a valiant effort to hold their own events. Last night, I saw an African-American guy walking around the convention handing out flyers to every black person he could find.

I intentionally went to a non-black-specific event. As we said on our show last week, Denver became a mini Chocolate City for the Democratic convention. You didn't have to go to a specifically "black" event to see black people.

The party last night highlighted Africa aid and international relief, so I figured it would be an especially good test of how folks rolled. If you can't find black people at a party focusing on Africa, where will you at the RNC?

The party was at a big club in a party/strip club district in Minneapolis. The streets were filled with drunk people, mainly twenty-somethings, and a zillion-point-five riot police who had just battled it out with protestors.

Outside the door were event staffers, who were white; and local security guards, who were black men. Inside, all the bartenders were white but all the food servers were black or Latino. A acquaintance of mine once told me that one way she judged character was whether people looked their waiters or servers in the eye and treated them as people, instead of looking down at the menu and ordering or snatching food off trays. The crowd at this event was largely grab-n-go ... very little eye contact with the people who were helping to make their night a happy one.

So: I talked to the one black man left in the room, one of the men passing empanadas on a tray. I'd noticed earlier that he was wearing pink sponge earplugs, even though the music wasn't that loud. I struck up a conversation with him, told him a journalist and that I'd just come from Denver.

He looked at me with a mix of admiration and envy. "You witnessed history."

Then he pulled out one of his earplugs. "The only reason I'm wearing these things is so that if anyone tries to talk to me, I will say, "I can't hear you.'" His disdain for the crowd was palpable. Most of the crowd's inability to connect with the people serving them was palpable as well.

As I mentioned to the gentleman serving, the Republican Convention is history too. But obviously some people, including some LOCAL people, feel shut out of that moment.

Farai Chideya

8:16 PM ET | 09- 4-2008 | permalink

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And here the Republicans are trying to make themselves out as populists and make Obama elitist. Absurd!

Thank you for giving your perspective.

Sent by Lauren | 9:50 PM ET | 09-04-2008

The mass desertion of Black republicans to the Obama campaign can only be partly attributed to wanting to see the first Black president. Their is little evidence to lead one to believe that this sort of Black racial solidarity exist among this group. I suspect that the Obama campaign allows them to an opportunity to skip out of party which only sees them as a means to give voice to racist sentiment.

Sent by Sayeed | 12:18 PM ET | 09-05-2008

Thank you for this article. I think blacks are experiencing their own "culture wars" and "class" divisions. I am glad to see us all engaged in political action and high degrees of community acitvity. I would like to say to black republicans- quit using old data to sway blacks away from the democratic party. Republicans make historical claims that although "factual" but misleading. The republican party of today is made up of the old southern democrats who were racists. They left the democratic party after the sweeping civil righs legislation passed by the democrat Lyndon Johnson hence all the red states that were democrats are now republican. All the racists blogs written by extremists who are Republicans point to a problem. . They rail against affirmative action and welfare. We all know that the system needs improvement but getting rid of all help programs is not the answer. I know that some blacks and whites blame the system for there own failure- but there are still some "real" problems that need fixing. The Republican party of today has been infiltrated by the extreme right. The Republican party used to be conservative but not the hardcore right wing guns,gays and god( theirs of course)

Sent by Delores | 1:16 PM ET | 09-05-2008

I could provide a dozen similar experiences from years of covering Texas Republicans, but everyone reading this site is familiar with them.

I did note at one point a few years back there was a concerted effort to make sure minorities were included in the "we won!" photographs at a "victory" party. When the cameras left, the various minorities were given their jackets and name tags back and sent back to serve food.

But since Republicans were willing to be photographed standing next to individuals of the black and brown persuasions, obviously there was no racism there. Those charges have no basis in fact (only in reality.)

Sent by stormkite | 4:22 PM ET | 09-05-2008

I was surprised to notice the nearly-all-white RNC audience. I'm from the California Bay Area, and I just never think about race - until I notice an absence of diversity. My family agrees - the RNC certainly didn't represent any of America's diversity, and so, in my mind, they are not an example of Americans at all. And yet, they chant "USA, USA!" Even the patriotic shroud they wrap themselves in is misleading.

Sent by Lisa | 5:23 PM ET | 09-05-2008

WHERE ARE AMERICA'S RELIGIOUS LEADERS ??

LETS ALL HOPE OUR MEDIA FRIENDS CONTINUE TO ALSO SHOW AN INTEREST IN REPORTING ON THIS AMERICAN HORROR FACING THESE (TENS OF THOUSANDS) FORGOTTEN AND TRAPPED POORER AMERICANS, AND HOW THIS PRESIDENTIAL CONTENDER HANDLES THIS VERY SERIOUS ISSUE FACING AMERICA?S LATINO AND BLACK AMERICAN COMMUNITIES ????

WITH 80% OF THE BLACK AMERICAN VOTERS SAYING THEY SUPPORT SENATOR OBAMA IN THIS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, IT IS ONLY FAIR FOR EVERYONE TO KNOW PRIOR BEING ELECTED OUR NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES HOW THIS DEMOCRATIC SENATOR TRULY FEELS ABOUT THIS AMERICAN JUDICIAL HORROR CONTINUING TO INFLICT GRAVE HARM ON THE BLACK AMERICAN FAMILIES AND THEIR COMMUNITIES NATIONWIDE ??????

*** WHEN GOD?S FACE BECAME VERY RED ***
THE US SUPREME COURT GAVE ENEMY COMBATANTS FEDERAL APPEAL HC RIGHTS LAWYERS AND PROPER ACCESS TO US FEDERAL COURTS,AND POORER AMERICANS (MANY EVEN ON DEATH ROW) ARE DENIED PROPER FEDERAL APPEAL LEGAL REPRESENTATION TO OUR US FEDERAL COURTS OF APPEAL, AND ROTTING IN AMERICAN PRISONS NATIONWIDE ?????????

***THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE $LOWLY FINDING OUT HOW EA$Y IT I$ FOR MIDDLE CLA$$ AND WORKING POOR AMERICAN$ TO FALL VICTIM TO OUR U$ MONETARY JUDICIAL $Y$TEM.

****WHEN THE US INNOCENT WERE ABANDONED BY THE GUILTY ****
The prison experts have reported that there are 100,000 innocent Americans currently being falsely imprisoned along with the 2,300,000 total US prison population nationwide.
Since our US Congress has never afforded poor prison inmates federal appeal legal counsel for their federal retrials,they have effectively closed the doors on these tens of thousands of innocent citizens ever being capable of possibly exonerating themselves to regain their freedom through being granted new retrials.

This same exact unjust situation was happening in our Southern States when poor and mostly uneducated Black Americans were being falsely imprisoned for endless decades without the needed educational skills to properly submit their own written federal trial appeals.

**INNOCENT AMERICANS ARE DENIED REAL HC RIGHTS WITH THEIR FEDERAL APPEALS !!
This devious and deceptive judicial process of making our poor and innocent prison inmates formulate and write their own federal appeal legal cases for possible retrials on their state criminal cases,is still in effect today even though everyone in our US judicial system knows that without proper legal representation, these tens of thousands of innocent prison inmates will be denied their rightful opportunities of ever being granted new trials from our federal appeal judges!!

Sadly, the true US *legal* Federal Appeal situation that occurs when any of our uneducated American prison inmates are forced to attempt to submit their own written Federal Appeals (from our prisons nationwide) without the assistance of proper legal counsel, is that they all are in reality being denied their legitimate rights for Habeas Corpus and will win any future Supreme Court Case concerning this injustice!

For our judicial system and our US Congressional Leaders Of The Free World to continue to pretend that this is a real and fair opportunity for our American Middle Class and Working Poor Citizens, only delays the very needed future change of Federal Financing of all these Federal appeals becoming a normal formula of Our American judicial system.

It was not so very long ago that Public Defenders became a Reality in this country.Prior that legal reality taking place, their were also some who thought giving anyone charged with a crime a free lawyer was a waste of taxpayers $$.

This FACADE and HORROR of our Federal Appeal proce$$ is not worthy of the Greatest Country In The World!

***GREAT SOCIETIES THAT DO NOT PROTECT EVEN THEIR INNOCENT, BECOME THE GUILTY!

A MUST READ ABOUT AMERICAN INJUSTICE:
1) YAHOO AND 2) GOOGLE
MANNY GONZALES THE KID THAT EVERYONE FORGOT IN THE CA PRISON SYSTEM.
** A JUDICIAL RIDE OF ONES LIFE !

lawyersforpooramericans@yahoo.com
(424-247-2013)

Posted by: DOUGLAS FIELD | Septe

Sent by DOUGLAS FIELD | 3:33 PM ET | 09-06-2008

I married to a republican and we have heated debates about the political scene nowadays, as folks of color that is to be expected. I was however, surprised, when he was both outraged and disgusted at the audience scans of the convention, and the stock art used to insert blacks into the video clips that were created. To emphasize your point, and to quote my husband, "if you can't find 4 real black faces in all the US (and RNC activities nationwide) for a video who actually represent what you have to say - then you have to ask, do I have a place in this party at all?" My response -nope. No place, conservative values or not. Thanks for your article.

Sent by Aimee A. Laramore | 6:00 PM ET | 09-06-2008

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