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Black conservatives unmasked
By TAVIS SMILEY
Special to AUGUSTA FOCUS
Gaddy Vasquez, the first Latino
president of the Orange County
Board of Supervisors in Califor
nia, in a speech at the Republican
National Convention in 1988, de
rided Democratic candidate Gov.
Michael Dukakis, by saying, “He
may speak Spanish, buthedoesn’t
speak our language.”
That’s exactly how I feel about
so-called “Black conservatives.”
They'’re of my color, but not my
kind. Isn’t the phrase “Black con
servative” an oxymoron anyway?
I've often wondered what it is
these Black Americans are con
serving.
The Right (or the “half-Right”
as I prefer to call them, since they
only tell you half the truth) isn’t
just Newt Gingrich and Pat
Robertson. Part ofthe front line of
the attack on Black America in
cludes Supreme Court Justice
Clarence Thomas, national radio
talk-show hosts Ken Hamblin and
Armstrong Williams, professors
Shelby Steele and Walter Will
iams, economist Thomas Sowell,
and congressmen Gary Franks of
Connecticut and J.C. Watts of
Oklahoma, to name a few. Like
the Black soldiersin the film Glory,
these Black conservatives have
been pushed to the front of an
armed charge to retake the hills
upon which America was built.
The only problem is that it is not
an America that was available to
or open to Black people.
In 1995 a protest march orga
nized by Black leaders took place
in front of the home of Clarence
Thomas to express the Black
community’s disapproval over his
attacks on practically everything
and everyone that is Black.
Clarence Thomas is Black
America’s worst nightmare. Nei
ther he nor other Black conserva
tives speak for Black America.
Black conservatives have been
anointed by the Right establish
ment, rather than elected by any
one in the Black community, for
reasons that are mostly because
of their pigmentation and only to
a small degree because of their
argumentation. The Right’s very
promotion of Black conservatives
is an enormous act of duplicity
and deception.
The truthis that ofthe 40 Black
members of Congress, only two
are conservatives: Franks and
Watts. Not surprisingly they have
been elected from predominantly
white districts, which suggests to
me that, if you’re a Black conser
vative in this country,youcan’tbe
elected to dog catcher within the
Black community. I welcome the
debate in the coming months and
years about the new Black conser
vatism. But unless and until these
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Closer Look
modern day conservatives can fill
more than a small telephonebooth
with their Black following, I
wouldn’t believe the hype.
Too much of Right-wing politics
are aimed squarely against Black
Americans and other minorities.
Unfortunately, like slavery itself,
many of the advances of present
day conservatives could not have
been accomplished without help
from the ranks of those being vic
timized.
Just as Africans aided slave
traders in the search and capture
of other Africans, wittingly or oth
erwise, Black conservatives have
aided and abetted efforts to roll
back many of the hard-won social,
economic and political gains
among the African-American com
munity over the past 40 years.
By endorsing the half-truths
and distortions of conservative
whites for ending affirmative ac
tion or cutting welfare, Black con
servatives have allowed them
selves to be used to carry out the
dirty work of close-minded people
who do not have the interests of
African Americans and poor
people at heart. Worse, they lend
Clarence Thomas
is Black America’s
worst nightmare.
Neither he nor
other Black
conservatives
speak for Black
America.
credibility to views that are mis
guided and even racist.
Although his chances of win
ning the 1996 Republican presi
dential nomination are slim to
none (and slim is out of town), the
campaign of Black conservative
Alan Keyes and the publication of
books — such as Please, Don't
Feed the Blacks (recently retitled
Madein America)by Ken Hamblin
and Beyond Blame: How We Can
Succeed by Breaking the Depen
dency Barrier by Armstrong Wil
liams — will undoubtedly add to
the hoopla surrounding Black con
servatives. One almost gets the
impression that African Ameri
cans are becoming a bunch of
Right-wingers. (Not to worry, the
market value for selling out will
never be high enough for some of
us.) Yet every poll, study and sur
vey in America shows that the
overwhelming majority of Black
Americans believe, for example,
thataffirmativeactionisfair, rem
edies a historic injustice and al
lows for the admission, hiring or
promoting of all qualified candi-
The fact is that
Clarence Thomas is on
the Supreme Court primarily
because he’s Black.
No objective person can state
with a straight face that
Clarence Thomas was the
best qualified person to be
nominated for the Court. But
he was a Black federal judge
who walked the Right walk
and talked the Right talk. So
he became Bush’s man.
dates. Many adamantly oppose
school choice, fearful that it will
further ruin inner-city schools;
oppose three strikes legislation
not because they are soft oncrime,
but because they believe in sec
ond chances; oppose the death
penalty not because they don’t
want to punish criminals, but be
cause they are aware of how un
fair the system can be; and sup
port a more expansive view of
government.
The debate between Black lib
erals and Black conservatives
datesback atleastasfarasW.E.B.
Dußois and Booker T. Washing
ton, who had profound disagree
ments on the direction of social,
political and economic policy for
Black Americans at the begin
ning of this century. However,
Dußois and Washington always
had the best interests of Black
people at heart. I think many of
the Black conservatives today are
interested primarily in their own
self-promotion and financial gain,
rather than in whether or not
Black people will suffer. The only
thing the Right wants from Black
people is a vote and their help in
condemning those Black stereo
types of which they don’t approve
and which they blame for the
moral decay of America.
When was the last time you
heard a Black conservative say
anything positive about Black
people? When was the last time
you heard a Black conservative
say anything remotely challeng
ing to the white Establishment?
They rarely do, because they know
the audience they’re playing to—
conservative whites. Why is it
that Black conservatives ignore
discrimination, as if denying that
racism still exists? Why is it that
all the prominent Black conserva
tivesare men? Whyisitthateven
the brightest Black conservative
minds, people like Black conser
vative economist Thomas Sowell,
or English professor Shelby Steele,
frequently comment on race mat
ters, and yet are almost never
quoted in the mainstream media
on economic policy or English lit
erature? The Right marginalizes
the talents of Black conservatives
even asitsolicits their opinions on
race relations.
The fact is that Clarence Tho
mas is on the Supreme Court pri
marily because he’s Black. No
objective person can state with a
straight face that Clarence Tho
mas was the best qualified person
to be nominated for the Court.
But he was a Black federal judge
who walked the Right walk and
talked the Right talk. So he be
came Bush’s man. Strangely, the
Right complains bitterly and of
ten about gender- and race-based
politics. Yet, Clarence Thomas
was chosen, in large part, because
of the Right’s very cynicism over
issues of race and gender,in much
the same way Justice Sandra Day
O’Connor was chosen by Ronald
Reagan, who wanted to appoint
the first woman to sit on the high
court. (Although most would agree
she’s proved herself a very ca
pable judge, few would say she
was the best qualified candidate
at the time she was nominated.)
Her nomination, in a sense, was a
form of affirmative action.
Why are Black conservatives
apparently blind to the fact that
most Black Americans have al
ways been conservative on moral
issues andliberal on socialissues?
And what’s wrong with that any
way? Black Americans areby and
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large much more conservative
than other groups on many of the
important moral issuesofthe day,
including the hot-button topics of
abortion andschool prayer, in part
because of the Black communi
ties’ deep and abiding religious
faith. But do they think of them
selves as “conservatives?” No.
Because onsocialissuestheyhave
precious little to conserve.
Inthe affirmative-action debate,
a great many people — including
presumptive GOP presidential
nominee, Kansas Senator Bob
Dole — bastardize Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr.’s quote that one
day he hoped his four little chil
dren would “live in anation where
they will not be judged by the
color of their skin but by the con
tent of their character.” The half-
Right uses this quote to suggest
that Dr. King wanted to live in a
colorblind society. That is simply
not true. Dr. King never believed
in or argued for a colorblind soci
ety. While he wanted his children
and others to be judged by the
content of their characters, he did
not want to live in a homogenized
America. King believed as I do:
Many of the Black
conservatives today
are interested
primarily in their
own self-promotion
and financial gain,
rather than in
whether or not
Black people will
suffer.
that America’s greatest strength
is her diversity.
What they conveniently forget
is that Dr. King also said this:
“When millions of people have
been cheated for centuries, resti
tution is a costly process. Inferior
education, poor housing, unem
ployment, inadequate health
care—each is a bitter component
of the oppression that has been
our heritage. Each will require
billions of dollars to correct. Jus
tice so long deferred has accumu
lated interest and its cost for this
society will be substantial in fi
nancial as well as human terms.
The great majority of Americans
are suspended between these op
posing attitudes. They are un
easy with injustice but unwilling
yet to pay a significant price to
eradicate it.”
Tavis Smiley, Los Angeles radio and television commentator, is
author of the new book HARD LEFT: Straight Talk about the Wrongs
of the Right. Selected by TIME magazine as one of the 50 young leaders
of the future, Smiley was previously a top aide to former Los Angeles
mayor Tom Bradley, and has since built a national reputation. The
above is an excerpt from HARD LEFT, Anchor Books.
AUGUSTA FOCUS May 30, 1996
Putsimply, Black conservatives
are being used by the Right. In
deed, House Speaker Newt
Gingrich has an unofficial plan
called the “GOP Minority Out
reach Strategy,” which calls for
the GOP to “promote” its six mi
nority House members—at press
conferences, in action on the floor
of the House and through infor
mal TV responses to the presi
dent. It advocates finding minori
ties to testify at congressional
hearings and creating a GOP
mailing list of minority groups.
Meanwhile, the Right contin
ues to cut programs that have
historically helped Black Ameri
cans and other persons of color,
The earned income tax credit,
public housing programs, sum
merjobs forinner-city youth. How
dare they?
Thisis not about race, it’s about
reason. It's about where the Right
stands on the issues that matter
to Black America. These Black
mouthpieces and talking-headsdo
not speak for the Black commu
nity. Everyone on the Left must
counter conservatives who claim
or imply that they speak for an
entire ethnic group—whatever
their race.
The national NAACP shame
fully avoided opposing Clarence
Thomas’s nomination to the Su
preme Court because heisa Black
man. The nation’s cldestand larg
est civil rights organization re
fused to criticize a man who could
care less about civil rights, simply
because he was of the right race.
But who benefits from this? Cer
tainly not Black folk. Ironically,
with his back to the wall and his
nemination in grave doubt,
Clarence Thomas had the audac
ity to play the race card himself,
calling the Senate hearings a
“high-tech lynching of a Black
man.” Please. Clarence Thomas
is‘now a lifetime member of the
nation’s highest court, and he glee
fully gives Black America a swift
kick in the behind every chance
he gets.
Idonot find diversity of thought
in the Black community troubling.
Indeed, no race is best served by
monolithic thinking. There must
always be room for reasonable
people, regardless of race, to agree
to disagree on important issues.
What is pure deception, however,
is the way a small but well-con
nected and well-placed group of
Black Right-wingers can claim to
represent the Black vote in
America. It just ain’t so.
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