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While covering the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, Roland Martin and NewsOne Now have given Black Republicans a platform to speak to the show’s predominantly African-American audience.

Martin spoke with a group of Black Republicans from the Georgia Republican Party about how the GOP can effectively speak with African-Americans about the important issues that resonate within their communities and police accountability.

In speaking about African-American voter outreach, Michael McNeely, the first Vice Chairman of the Georgia Republican Party told Martin, “We are communicating our principles that I think the majority of communities all across our country believe in, but we can do better.”

McNeely continued, “It starts with relationships, we can’t wait for people to come to the Republican Party meetings, we have to go to them.”

McNeely also stated Republicans should continue to address issues that impact African-Americans and those who speak about these issues in a “real way” need to be heard from on a regular basis.

Martin engaged the group of Black Republicans in a dialogue on the Black Lives Matter movement, highlighting that the controversial conglomerate of activists have “forced a discussion about police accountability that we have never seen in the history of this country,” and challenged the group to address the reluctant Republicans to join in the discourse on the issue.

The host of NewsOne Now added the caveat that White Americans are also impacted by police misconduct so the issue of police accountability is “affecting all Americans, not just Black folks.”

Though McNeely does not agree with everything coming out of the Black Lives Matter movement, he said, “I think we all understand at the heart of the matter people care about what’s going on with young men and women in their interactions with police.

“We should be talking, we should be engaging, we should be educating people about what police do and the high standards they already have.”

McNeely wrapped his comments on police accountability and the Black Lives Matter movement by encouraging both sides to “do better” by having an open dialogue over the course of a long period of time that will lead to solutions.

Watch Roland Martin and members of the Georgia Republican Party discuss GOP African-American outreach and the Black Lives Matter movement in the video clip above.

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty

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Black Republicans Share Why They Are Supporting Donald Trump