The national media stuck pins in their Trent Lott voodoo doll to expose his foolish racist statement. Now the Democrats are trying to use the race issue to demolish Republican support for all citizens who are fiscally conservative and want to be successful based on their own talents and skills regardless of race. This is more logical than the quota system used by the Democrats.
Here is some data showing our party is color-blind and supportive for all people in our big tent.
E First, the new lieutenant governor of Maryland is former state chairman Mike Steele, a black Republican who might have helped Congressman Robert Ehrlich become the first Republican since Spiro Agnew to be elected governor of Maryland. Steele will be the face of the Republican Party any time Ehrlich leaves the state.
E Secondly, the lieutenant governor of Colorado, Joe Rodgers, also a black Republican, just completed four years. He ran for Congress in the primary and was defeated. Both of these men could be seen in their state of being groomed for higher political office.
E Next, Ken Blackwell, secretary of state of Ohio, is a rising black Republican star; similar to retiring J.C. Watts of Oklahoma. Blackwell's appearance at the National Republican Convention in 2000 was exciting along with black delegates from across the nation. This fellow could also run for governor in Ohio if Bob Taft Jr. decides to retire after another four-year term. Blackwell could run for Congress in 2004 or become lieutenant governor in 2006.
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E The 2002 election also saw black Republican leaders on the ticket. Ron Greer is a man who grew up in the ghetto and joined the Marines in the 1970s. He's been a firefighter for 18 years in Wisconsin and ran for Congress in November against incumbent Tammy Baldwin. Greer got 34 percent of the vote.
E Another black leader, Lynette Boggs-McDonald of Las Vegas, is a city councilwoman. She ran for Congress in 2002 to unseat the white Democrat with the support of Alan Keyes and BAMA, a black Republican political action group. She got 43 percent of the vote.
E The third example of a Black Congress candidate, Cynthia Van Auken of Georgia, was seeking to win the seat of Cynthia McKinney (won by Denise Majette, Democrat, a retired judge from Georgia).
E Finally, Marvin Scott of Indiana has run for Congress in four prior elections and he is a black Republican who teaches sociology at a university. In 2000, he got 40 percent of the vote. He is going to run for the Senate in 2004 to challenge Sen. Evan Bayh.
Other roadblocks the Republican Party has torn down for black supporters include that in 1896, Gov. McKinley of Ohio was at the Chicago National Republican Convention. He was in town to get his endorsement and demanded his black delegates be allowed to stay at his hotel to mingle with the white delegates. Later, after the horrible murder of President McKinley in 1901, Teddy Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to have dinner in the White House.
Warren Harding celebrated with his black delegates and gave them seats at the 1920 national convention. At the time, blacks and women were allowed to interact with the white members.
There have been four U.S. senators with African-American heritage. The first was Hiriam Revels, of Mississippi in 1870. He was appointed by the Republican leaders in the party of his membership. Another black Republican was also appointed to the post before 1914, when a new amendment allowing the direct election of senators by the people went into effect. In the 1960s, Edward Brooke also was elected as senator of Massachusetts and served two terms.
The Democrat Party has been represented by one black person in the entire history of the Senate. In 1992, Carol Mosely-Braun from Illinois rode on Bill Clinton's coattails into the corruption pit of the Democrat era. She was not the role model she might have been for Democrat blacks. The reports from Illinois show little support for her to run for the Senate again in 2004.
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In North Dakota, we have black citizens who support our fiscal conservative ideals and the right to get an education and be gainfully employed. They have attended meetings at the Fargo downtown office and been invited to events with Gov. John Hoeven and other leaders in our state.
The Republican Party is my home with a progressive legacy which allows any individual to belong to our party based on philosophy and not race or gender.
Dueker, Fargo, is a Republican activist.
