Thursday, July 21, 2016
CLEVELAND
When looking at the 2,472 delegates to the Republican National Convention, you see a lot of red, white and blue – but barely any black.
That’s because the convention has only 18 black delegates. That’s 0.7 percent of total delegates who are African-American – the smallest percentage of any RNC dating back to at least 1912, according to statistics compiled by Daily Kos, a liberal blog.
Among those 18 is Tracey Winbush of Youngstown, who said the tiny number is because blacks “don’t understand how the [political] system works,” and Democrats “have indoctrinated the African-American community to fear Republicans. They believe Republicans will put them back in chains.”
Black Americans, she said, “have to sell their vote and bargain for support” to get ahead.
“Until they become politically astute, they’ll lose,” said Winbush, Mahoning County Republican Party vice chairwoman.
Even after Democrat Barack Obama was elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012, “African-Americans didn’t do better than they did when George W. Bush was in office,” she said.
“We keep trying [to get more blacks], but the more we try, the more we get shot down,” Winbush said.
“It’s about power, money and influence, and Democrats want to keep their base” of blacks or they’ll lose elections.
Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, “doesn’t have that big of a following among African-Americans,” she said. “Blacks have influence, but they don’t vote.”
A recent Quinnipiac University Poll had Trump with 1 percent of the black vote.
When told of Winbush’s comments, David Betras, chairman of the Mahoning County Democratic Party, said, “Could it have anything to do with the systemic disenfranchising of their voting rights and everything to do with the policies of the Republican Party, which are the policies of old white guys?” he said.
“I find it appalling in the worst way that the Republicans have only 18” black delegates.
He added: “Their candidate for president is a racist, and people of color know a racist when they see one. Eighteen being there tells you all you need to know about Donald Trump and his policies and that party’s platforms.”
Winbush said Trump isn’t a racist, however.
She described him as “Uncle Bob who sits at the Thanksgiving table who says something that embarrasses you,” but doesn’t mean to do so.
She added that Trump built a business that, in part, involved boxing and that includes “a lot of black folks.”
There would have been more blacks on the RNC floor at Quicken Loans Arena if John Kasich were the presidential candidate, said Winbush, who got to the convention as a delegate for the Ohio governor.
When selecting delegates, Trump “got on the phone and said I need two people” to be delegates in various locations.
“You don’t have that many African-Americans who sought to be delegates, but there are plenty of black folks here” at the convention, Winbush said.
Mark Munroe, the Mahoning County Republican Party chairman and an RNC alternate delegate, said, “My frustration isn’t that the Republican Party isn’t welcoming to blacks, but rather it seems so many in the black community simply don’t understand what the Republican Party stands for. Blacks seem to be reluctant to join.”
The Republican Party’s message, he said, is about freedom, liberty, individual responsibility, limited government and opportunity for everyone.
Munroe said another frustration is the GOP’s history is forgotten.
The first black members of Congress were Republicans as was the first black candidate for Ohio governor, and of course, it’s the party of Abraham Lincoln, he said.
“The Republican message is universal and appeals to all people of all colors,” Mun-roe said.
“It’s one message for all.”