Black, Conservative And Proud
Commentary by Phil Valentine  / November 19, 1998

No sooner had J.C. Watts taken over the fourth most powerful position in Congress than the left-wingers began to cry foul. They accuse the Republicans of their own brand of affirmative action. This further demonstrates their fundamental misunderstanding of how people in this country achieve greatness. The accusation exposes their own bigotry, assuming that affirmative action is the only course available to a minority. The reality, which they can't seem to grasp, is that no one placed J.C. Watts in that position. He earned it. He was duly elected, against stiff opposition from the man who held that position, by a majority of Republicans in Congress. "But he's only been in Congress a few short years," they cried. "Why else would he be in that position other than he's black." To the left-wingers, it is inconceivable that anyone could be rewarded without "tenure" so advancement through quotas is the only way they can make sense of J.C.'s success. What is totally foreign to them is that it's great ideas and hard work which propel one to greatness, not simply hanging around long enough or being of a certain racial or ethnic group. Since he's been in Congress, J.C. has been hard at work spreading the conservative message. He has trekked all across the country making speeches at Lincoln Day Dinners and Republican rallies advancing the notion of morality and self-determination. He's availed himself to talk show hosts like me on a number of occasions as well as the TV political shows to spread the word. He has become a beacon for all Americans who strive to better themselves and their families.

His message not only resonates with white Americans, it is resonating with black people as well and that's precisely what's scaring the left-wingers to death. The left-wingers, who have made black Americans dependent upon them for their very existence, have now become dependent on blacks to keep them in power. The tide is now beginning to turn. Republicans like J.C. Watts, Clarence Thomas and Alan Keyes are subtle reminders that the Democrats no longer own the black vote. These black conservatives are reminders that the Republican party is the original party of black Americans. It was the Republican party which was formed for the express purpose of ending slavery. It was the Democrats, on the other hand, who tried to stop them. It was the Democrats who gave us George Wallace and Lester Maddox who stood in the way of black children going to white schools, of black citizens drinking at white water fountains. It was the Democrats who gave us the Jim Crow laws which relegated black Americans to the backs of buses and second-class citizen status. In fact, the Ku Klux Klan was the militant off-shoot of the Democratic party, designed to scare and intimidate blacks and keep them from voting.

Largely because Eleanor Roosevelt embraced the plight of black Americans, the mass exodus of blacks from the Republican party over the following twenty years or so culminated in the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. What has been lost in history is that, ironically, a greater percentage of Republicans voted for the Civil Rights Act in both houses of Congress than Democrats. Because it was Lyndon Johnson who signed it, the Democrats got the credit. The image of Dr. King and America's other black leaders standing behind the President as he signed the legislation is indelibly etched on the American conscience yet it was the Republicans in Congress who made it a reality.

Gary, a recent black conservative caller to my show, called to respond to another black man who mostly agreed with me but had vowed to stay in the Democratic party. I was perplexed that, in light of the facts before him, this man had refused to budge from the party. Gary explained, "He just wants to be black. And somewhere along the line he was told that in order to be black he had to be a Democrat."

Now, after the social programs of the Great Society have proven to harm far more people than they've helped, we're beginning to see more and more defections. Many more black Americans are mustering the courage to break the chains of the Democratic party. The Colin Powells of the world realize that it's conservative ideals that will break the shackles of governmental dependency not oppressive liberal programs. What frightens the left-wingers most is they've lost control. It's no longer them but the black conservatives like J.C. Watts who will, like Moses, lead their people to The Promised Land where they truly shall be free at last.