Testimonial of a Black Republican

This lady named Providence Crowder did her homework, over what appears to be a significant portion of her life, and wrote this testimonial on the reasons why she was born a Democrat and, through subsequent curiosity and self education, became a Republican. Lengthy but provides much background information on the actual history of the two parties regarding the plight of the blacks in this country.

Excerpt: What I found out in my quest for political clarity was that the Republican party passed EVERY civil rights legislation in regard to black Americans, including the 1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Rights Act, which was signed by a Democrat president but only passed because of a Republican congress’ overwhelming support. Most Democrats in congress opposed it. Republicans passed the 13th amendment, freeing black slaves; the 14th amendment, giving blacks their citizenship; the 15th amendment, granting blacks the right to vote. Even still, whenever Democrats would take back control of the white house and congress, they would prevent blacks from buying land, they denied them fair wages for their work, and they undid many of the civil rights advancements of the Republicans.

REFLECTION

Reflecting, I can clearly see that fear played a part in preventing me from voting my values; every black that I had heard of who didn’t drink the Democrat Kool-Aid and DARED to identify themselves with another party, or even worse, the Republican party, was labeled by other black Democrats as an Uncle Tom (even though Uncle Tom, a fictional character, was a hero in his story), a sellout, or a house negro. Additionally, I simply didn’t have enough information. Politics was a puzzle that I did not have enough pieces to. Not saying I have all the pieces now; like so many things in life, politics is not simply black and white. There are gray areas; many ways to combat our nation’s problems and no one party has all the answers or even the right answers. No one political party has a claim on morality, no one political party has all the right solutions for poverty, crime, and foreign relations. And despite the Democrat party’s shameful racist past, no one party is free of racism. Racism exists within all political parties because some of the people who make up the parties suffer the disease of racism. We live in a democracy and racists are allowed a vote too.

Today, I feel I am a much better informed voter than I ever was in the past. Knowledge is power. Its freedom. Yet, heartbreaking to me is that many of my black peers look upon my freedom of political choice with disdain.

It disturbs me that many of the blacks that vote Democrat do so out of tradition. I was one of them. It bothers me that the Democratic Party takes our vote for granted in many of the same ways (and to their failure) that the Republican Party did in times past. Democrats are allowed to be openly racist without consequence or reprisal from blacks. Successful black Republicans such as retired four-star general and former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and former U.S. Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice have been disrespected, their names have been slandered, and their characters have assassinated by both black and white Democrats. They have been called Uncle Toms, Aunt Mamie, and house niggers. Blacks would be totally offended if these same names were directed at black Americans who were not Republican.

MY CONCLUSIONS

I have learned a lot about both political parties and enough to know that when given the choice between Democrat and Republican, I choose the latter. There are many myths out there—and many reasons blacks say they don’t vote Republican—Nixon’s so-called Southern Strategy, the old Republicans are the new Democrats, Republicans are racists. . . I could go on and on. Whatever their reason, so be it. But as I have concluded, the values of the Republican Party of old have never changed. From their beginning they have stood for small government, personal responsibility, low taxes, religious freedom, free enterprise, and adherence to the constitution.

I will end by saying this. Though I was born and raised a Democrat, I am proud to say that today I am a freethinking American who chooses to vote her values. And though I may not agree with every Republican, or every Republican idea, as of now, the Republican Party is my home. Read full testimonial here.