Is the GOP actually doing things that would resonate with the Black community, and just don’t want to tell us about it?
That may be the case with mandatory sentencing laws, which via the war on drugs, disproportionately affect African Americans. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), who has criticized the Civil Rights Act of 1964, for goodness’ sake, nevertheless introduced a bill that would allow judges to go around the minimums, in certain cases. His opposition to the laws was widely reported in the mainstream press, but too frequently, Republicans fail to make a direct appeal to Black voters in such cases.
Raynard Jackson (pictured above), a Black Republican political consultant, says he was told by a member of U.S. House leadership that they’d rather not advertise such efforts. “They don’t want to be accused of using the events they’re doing in the Black community as a media photo op,” he said on NewsOne Now With Roland Martin. “I said, ‘That’s asinine! That’s idiotic!’ If you’re doing positive things in the Black community go out and share with the public what you’re doing. They are afraid of anything that has a racial component to it. They don’t know how to respond to it.”
Hear what else Jackson and other panelists told host Roland Martin about the issue, in the video below.
Tune in to “NewsOne Now,” weekdays at 7 a.m. EST.
