Very Few Minorities on Republican Podium

A Native American color guard, a Black preacher and video footage of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks was all that the Republican Party could muster up as a picture of diversity at their convention. What it hasn’t offered is many minorities speaking from the podium in prime time, or sitting among the delegates. Where are Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice? They are leaders in the Republican Party and they are nowhere to be seen.

The convention has a decidedly White look to it, coming on the heels of a Democratic convention where minorities were prominent on the podium and in the crowds.

Republicans have not been deliberately denying exposure to prominent party members from minority groups — there just aren't that many. They had hoped to showcase Louisiana's Republican Governor Bobby Jindal, the country's first elected Indian-American governor. But he stayed home to help coordinate the state's response to Hurricane Gustav. The Republicans have no Black governors or members of Congress to put on stage.

It's a problem for the Republicans that goes deeper than the challenge of coming up with a diverse speaker's lineup. Even one of the few Black faces at the podium can not find anything positive in the situation. Michael Steele, Maryland’s former lieutenant governor and the first Black elected to statewide office there said, "You can't sugarcoat this stuff."

Steele, who chairs GOPAC, the Republican political action committee (PAC), which recruits and trains Republican candidates for elected office, (read they have no natural leaders just trained puppets who are trained to say the right thing versus do the right thing), got 10 minutes. Earlier in the evening, when the cameras were not on, a number of Blacks and Hispanics had a chance to address the convention, although briefly. Among them: a nurse from Pennsylvania, a California state senator, the head of a Hispanic medical organization.

Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, who is Black, also spoke. He alluded to the historic significance of Senator Barack Obama's breakthrough as the first black presidential nominee for a major political party. (There in lies my grievance with the Republican Party and its relationship with Blacks -- their fascination with Black and athletes and those in powerful positions and not give a care for the everyday Black citizen).

The predominance of White faces on the podium in St. Paul, Minnesota was reflected in the faces staring back from the audience in. This from the group which calls itself the party of diversity. The Republicans say they “look forward to continuing (?) and expanding relationships with minorities and nominating Senator McCain, who values the diverse backgrounds of all Americans and will lead on issues important to them” – yea right.

Just a few years ago McCain led the charge against the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday in his home state of Arizona and only relented when forced by monetary losses. We bought that stale bread before, now we want fresh out of the oven bread.

The Republicans say about 13% of their party are minorities, which is double of what they had in 1996 (whoopee). They love to leave out some of the “minor” details; minority representation in the Republican Party is down from 2004, when about 17 percent of delegates and alternates were minorities. Joseph Wood, a Black delegate from Arkansas and treasurer of the state Republican Party, said there are more important things to consider than how many minorities are standing on the podium (I for one like to see people who look like me once in a while, “brother”). Fellow Arkansan Robert E. Smith Jr., another Black delegate, labeled it "a short-term problem." (This Negro has been drinking too much kool-aid).