NEW YORK – Some of them were old-school black Republicans who had been in the party for years. Others came to the party only within the last 10 to 15 years, and some weren’t even Republicans at all.
But all of them gathered last night at Perry Studios and Le Pavillon Garries in Harlem to mingle, network and exchange stories and ideas at the National Black Republican Leadership Council’s reception for black entrepreneurs as the national Republican Party kicked off its first ever convention in the Big Apple.
James Green came up from Tampa, Fla., where he helps nonprofit and community organizations write proposals for grants. (“I’m more grass-roots than most Democrats,” he boasted.) But Green originally came from Arkansas and reminisced about the mores and habits of black folks in his home state as he polished off a cold-cut sandwich and some cookies.
“When you’re out of Arkansas you’re two things,” Green told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “A Baptist and a Democrat. Well, I’m still a missionary Baptist. But I had to re-evaluate what I was politically.”
Green is a Democrat no more. About 12 or 13 years ago he “got disenchanted with them boys taking me and my vote for granted,” said Green. At one point Democrats stopped campaigning in his community.
“Oh, they’d show up for the occasional fish fry,” Green said. “But then they stopped doing that.” Green wasn’t too happy with the Democratic stand on some social issues either. Last night he chided those Democrats who support gay marriage.
“I got more in common with the Republican platform on most issues,” said Green.
That makes him a bit different from Denise Perry, a New York Democrat who started Perry Studios – where community folks of all ages go to learn dances in styles ranging from hip-hop to jazz to tap to ballet – 10 years ago. When Charles Powell, a friend of hers in the Harlem Business Alliance, asked if she’d let her Eighth Avenue studio be used to host a Republican reception, she couldn’t turn him down.
“What you believe in, that’s well and good,” Perry said. “But we all have one thing in common, and that’s pretty obvious.” She had no qualms about hosting a Republican gathering, Perry said, and no one challenged her about it.
“People kind of know me and know not to ask a question like that,” said Perry. So last night, black folks from both parties and neither party were welcome, including Detroit’s Andrew McLemore Jr., who is what his father was – a Republican.
“He was a Republican precinct delegate elected back in the 1960s,” said McLemore. “I imagine that wasn’t a very popular position.” McLemore came to the convention as the vice-chairman of the Republican Party’s 13th District in Michigan – which includes part of Detroit – and as vice-chairman of the Wayne County Republican Party. He’s also on the steering committee of “African-Americans for Bush.” When asked why he would want to help re-elect a man unpopular among blacks and from a party many blacks don’t trust, McLemore ran off a litany of answers.
“In 2002, Bush appointed me to the commission for the National African American Museum,” said McLemore. “There have been about eight of those commissions. Bush was the only one to fund this commission, and he did it in such a way that he wasn’t out there looking for fanfare.”
McLemore is also impressed with Bush’s push for more blacks to own their homes and supports his proposal to have Section 8 vouchers turned into down payments for houses (“the president realizes there’s a disparity in black home ownership”) and hailed the No Child Left Behind Act as a boon for all blacks seeking educational parity.
“I think,” McLemore said, “when African-Americans look at the issues and not the party they’ll find they’re more aligned with Republicans than they think.“
Reporters from BlackAmericaWeb.com called the Harlem offices of the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network for reaction to a black GOP reception held on black Democrat turf. Both directory listings were out of service. The weekly Amsterdam News of Harlem directed reporters to call the offices of District Council 1199e because they accept messages for the network. A call was not returned.
