How Black Conservatives Hurt Their Cause

Aside from the title (I'm not sure vocal black conservatives have a 'cause as they can only get white conservatives to pay them any mind), I think this guy has hit the nail on the head:

How Black Conservatives Hurt Their Cause
However, as an African, and resident of the (black) south side of Chicago, I have often wondered why the black conservative view has such poor resonance in African American communities. One of the most popular explanations, offered by black conservatives themselves, is that the “liberal media” caters to traditional black leadership at the expense of alternative voices. While there may be a grain of truth to this view, I would like to suggest that the answer is a bit more complex. In fact the “credibility” gap of black conservatives that Ms. Parker laments in her article has many roots.

First, I think tone and language matters. When I heard Star Parker suggest on Fox Television News that New Orleans’ black residents suffered from a “welfare mentality” I cringed, was angry and overwhelmed with deep emotion. I thought to myself, even if for a moment this were true, it is not the way anyone, black or white should be sounding in a time of such despair for that community. Although it was not readily apparent to me what Parker meant, I know that the term “welfare mentality,” used in certain contexts, is a provocative term. And for those among Katrina’s victims who work hard and do not receive welfare, I thought it would be particularly offensive.

But it seemed particularly mean-spirited for Parker to say this at such a crisis moment for black Louisianans. This tone, and the reflexive, single-minded identification of black people with “welfare” is not conducive to a healthy dialogue between conservatives and the black community. Surely, Parker cannot think this kind of attitude will move large numbers of black people to her side. Moreover, such harsh words about black people are at once hypocritical and one-sided: How often is “welfare mentality” ascribed to white people on the receiving end of government largess after a disaster? How many times have government emergency services been used to rescue white adventurers stranded on mountain tops or snow slopes while engaging in voluntary activity such as hiking or skiing? But we never hear black conservatives suggest that there is a “welfare mentality” at work there. I think most people would agree that people caught in a natural disaster have a better claim to government services. But, maybe to black conservatives the stranded white adventurer is more deserving, somehow.

Blacks aren’t voting liberal-Democratic because they are simply misled by Jesse Jackson and the civil rights leadership, or because they have a “herd mentality” as conservatives often contend. It would be condescending to deny the fact that black people, like any other population group, know and comprehend their self-interest. The black community is voting against what it hears, or does not hear, from black conservatives. Here are some examples:

I know a number of black conservatives. Some are just snobs who think that because they earn a little money, they have "economic interests" that would be better served by the Republican Party (not quite grasping that their "good salary" isn't really all that much and certainly not good enough to truly be enhanced by GOP policies). But, I also know some who really seem to be out to prove they are not like the black folks constantly demonized by the GOP. They want to prove they aren't criminal, welfare receiving, affirmative action needing ... negroes. It is more like they are trying to distance themselves from the stereotypes instead of realizing that they've bought into a false image of who most black Americans are ... and that's too bad.