Building a Political City of Brotherly Love – and Hope for Change

By Lenny McAllister

Hip Hop icons Public Enemy once talked about it taking “a nation of millions to hold us back.” With a nation of millions full of Black Democrats, Black America has found itself falling back from the rest of America in crucial ways.

Perhaps with the building of a new political nation, nothing will be able to hold back those trapped in urban conditions of blight currently.

That is why many Black Republicans gathered in the nation’s capital from March 18-20 in order to build a new movement of political diversity and effectiveness in Black America in the hopes of turning around the issues befalling African-Americans through the United States. And, if the partisan vote on health care serves as another indicator for much-needed change within the RNC after the 2008 vote for the first Black president, this weekend’s Frederick Douglass Foundation serves as notice that Black Republicans are growing in Washington esteem, political astuteness, and leadership potential.

Through leveraging the proud historical example of leadership from its namesake, Frederick Douglass (often noted as the man President Abraham Lincoln said himself was the one person whose opinion he respected most), leaders are emerging among the ranks within the Republican Party.

The 2nd Annual Leadership Summit was an opportunity for these leaders (ranging from activists to congressional candidates from California to New York) to continue bolstering the networking efforts that have connected the nation in a bond of urban conservatism that would make the late Jack Kemp proud.

The surging Black Republican organization was started by Dr. Tim Johnson, Vice-chairman of the North Carolina GOP. Johnson is currently one of several African-African vice-chairmen in the GOP at state levels, meaning that the second-in-command posts in the GOP in key states including Colorado, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Michigan, and North Carolina are filled with Black men and women.

 ”African Americans are proud of President Barack Obama but many are disenchanted with his policies and are beginning to look at candidates that better reflect their views and interests,” said Dean Nelson, Vice Chairman of the Frederick Douglass Foundation. “We are proud to host this historic event with so many congressional candidates.”

The panel discussions that occurred during the summit covered issues ranging from health care and “defining Black conservatism.” Workshops for participants on fundraising and grassroots organizing for the candidates in attendance are also part of the summit’s agenda.

If this weekend was about workshops and panel discussions only, it would have been fruitful yet limited in scope. With the breadth of exposure over the course of the 3-day summit, the Frederick Douglass Foundation has the opportunity to be historic and vital to an American people in need of resurgence.

Appearances by RNC Chairman Michael Steele, Congressman Trent Franks (2nd-AZ), and Congressman Thad McCotter (MI-4th) bolstered the cast of speakers, PAC organizations, and media representatives that took note of the surge of Black Republicans having an impact on elections throughout the nation as they work to address the ills found within their communities. Currently, there are over 30 congressional Black Republican candidates that are actively campaigning throughout the United States this election cycle, a number that rivals Reconstruction-era Black Republican activism.

These numbers include high-profile personalities such as Fox News’ Angela McGlowan (1st-MS) and Scripps Howard’s writer Star Parker (37th- CA) and “Young Guns” favorites Ryan Frazier (7th – CO) and Alan West (22nd – FL). These numbers do not include the increasing number of statewide and local Black Republican candidates that have emerged to bring a face to Republicanism that has not been embraced in recent elections.

More than talk, though, there is action coming from the Frederick Douglass Foundation, moves that range from expansion to the state-wide levels of the organization to their tough stances on controversial issues such as their anti-abortion advocacy.

“We are committed Christians, proud Black Americans, and active Republicans,” states Johnson who co-founded the Frederick Douglass Foundation with Dean Nelson of the Network of Politically Active Christians and Troy Rolling, also a vice-chairman for the GOP at the state level in Michigan. The unabashed positions that the group is taking mirrors the formation of a visible and tangible platform that smashes any notion that the group is mostly consisted of conservative Democrats trying to capitalize on a political changing of the winds.

The members of the Frederick Douglass Foundation, among other items, have decided to hold their candidates and membership to the standards of knowing key facts about the life of the great Frederick Douglass, accepting Republican principles on the issues of traditional marriage and abortion, and knowing the role of Christianity in the founding of the nation. Further, the group actively celebrates its history.

During the weekend event, the Foundation acknowledged the 156th birthday of the Republican Party with a small segment of their summit agenda as well as hosted a dinner reception with Mr. Ken Morris, the great, great, great grandson of Frederick Douglass and great, great, grandson of Booker T. Washington. The summit also took a historic picture of many of the participants at the foot of the Lincoln Monument as a gesture symbolizing the influence Frederick Douglass had on Abraham Lincoln, his presidency, and subsequently the American Union.

If the elections of Barack Obama and Michael Steele prompted a new era for political reality in America, then the Frederick Douglass Foundation is primed to advance that reality to a new paradigm of Black politics in the nation – a shift that may offer redeeming qualities to the communities they represent in the process.

Lenny McAllister is the author of a new book, “Diary of a Mad Black PYC (Proud Young Conservative),” available online at www.tinyurl.com/lennysdiary  and www.amazon.com. The political commentator was featured in the panel discussion “Young & Black in America: Empowering the Next Generation of African American Leaders” in 2009. He is featured regularly on outlets including CNN, Fox News, and XM Radio. Follow Lenny on The Root, at www.twitter.com/lennyhhr , on Facebook at www.tinyurl.com/lennyfacebook , and daily at http://pycmusings.blogspot.com  .