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Republicans launch new African-American “working group” during convention week

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Illinois

George Pearson, Will County Republican Chairman, told a livestream that the state GOP has helped launch the Illinois Black Republican Coalition. He and other black party leaders mean for this to be a working group for people who believe in free enterprise, school choice and self-reliance.

Bremen Township GOP Committeeman Kevin Suggs said black Republicans will combine their expertise to, in his words, “turn Illinois around.”

He said the Illinois Black Republican Coalition will be an alliance of people who share values like entrepreneurship and educational excellence.

“This is not just something we are redoing, or retooling, recreating. This is something that we believe in that we are going to make happen and we have the right people, at the right time, and are going to let the past go, we are going to move forward, in saying, ‘hey what are the key plans and steps we need to take to turn Illinois around?’” Suggs said.

“It is not about outreach. We know that there are a lot of blacks and African Americans that are out there that live this principle every single day - their business life, their family life, every single day. We are trying to build a coalition to show that you have support out here to say if you are a Republican,” he said. […]

He said the Illinois Black Republican Coalition will be an alliance of people who share values like entrepreneurship and educational excellence.

The Illinois Black Republican Coalition will supposedly be launched next month. It has no website and no Facebook page.

The Will County Republicans do appear to be walking the walk. The county party chairman, George Pearson, is an African-American as is its executive director Alyssia Benford (who ran against Rep. Natalie Manley in 2018 and got just 36 percent of the vote). And Cook County’s Bremen Township GOP Committeeman Kevin Suggs is as well. McHenry County Board member Chuck Wheeler, a Black man, also attended the announcement.

Illinois being Illinois, there are undoubtedly those who think this new project is just some election-year vaporware. We’ll see soon enough.

* Meanwhile…

Illinois Republicans, facing the tug of appealing to their base and the pull of trying to grow, acknowledged the need to reach out to Hispanics and Blacks on Tuesday as part of their second-day events tied to the Republican National Convention.

But a conversation on GOP outreach hosted on Facebook by the Illinois Republican Party turned introspective with the admission that the party needs to do more to encourage support among minority communities.

“Republicans in a lot of ways have not gone to these communities. Republicans have not addressed the Hispanic community or marginalized communities,” said Catalina Lauf, an unsuccessful northwest suburban congressional candidate featured during prime time on the convention’s opening night broadcast.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Aug 26, 20 @ 11:50 am

Comments

knew that they would make a pitch for Black men in response to Kamala Harris.

Comment by Amalia Wednesday, Aug 26, 20 @ 11:53 am
Happens every election cycle..

Comment by NotRich Wednesday, Aug 26, 20 @ 11:58 am
I know one black Republican. One.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Wednesday, Aug 26, 20 @ 11:59 am
Perspectives;

The GOP, not the Trumpkins or Raunerites, needs to be angered that “celebrating” eight percent of African Americans support of a candidate as a Republican.

I’ll wait, I’ll watch, I’m not going to criticize or applaud, but I’m hopeful that if the Raunerites are finally removed from the party leadership, outreach like this means embracing a real tent of inclusion and an honest attempt to be welcoming to diversity.

I’ll watch what does happen.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Aug 26, 20 @ 12:02 pm
Yeah, the 17 African-American Republicans in Illinois are gonna “turn it around.” Hilarious.

Comment by RIJ Wednesday, Aug 26, 20 @ 12:06 pm
“We know that there are a lot of blacks and African Americans”

Lol, is there a difference between the two? With messaging like that it’s bound to go well.

Let us examine Republican ideology and policy ideas for POC: social services cuts, pandemic mismanagement, absolutely and unanimously no graduated state income tax, trickle down economics (you don’t get your crumbs until the richest get their feast), RTWFL, harsh policing, climate change denial and deregulation, no minimum wage hike, the GOP base’s prejudices, endless guns, etc. Good luck.

Comment by Grandson of Man Wednesday, Aug 26, 20 @ 12:13 pm
Good luck with this idea. How are they going to spin a political party lead by a xenophobic racist into something that is inclusive?

Comment by Huh? Wednesday, Aug 26, 20 @ 12:15 pm
What they fail to realize is that the majority of Black voters are pragmatic, they look at who is most likely to serve their interest. Democrats, I feel, do take the Black voting block for granted, particularly Black women, since the Republican plank and history isn’t very palatable to us and we don’t have many other options, politically speaking.

Comment by Art Graduate Wednesday, Aug 26, 20 @ 12:33 pm
I give them credit for trying. It’s a small step in the right direction. Kudos.

Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Aug 26, 20 @ 12:48 pm
Grandson of a Man. There is a difference between African-American and Black. Black is all encompassing. For instance Idris Elba and Lupita are Black but they are not African-American.There are Afro-Cuban/Caribbean because the boats dropped us off in different places and kept going. Black usually delineates someone who is of African descent whether Caribbean, Mexican, British, etc. African-American is usually someone who is a descendant of someone who was enslaved under chattel slavery in America and is of African descent. Though our experiences overlap significantly we also have separate and distinct issues and challenges and I hope that the parties begin to think about this as they talk to Black people.

Comment by Sasha Fierce Wednesday, Aug 26, 20 @ 1:01 pm
“we don’t have many other options, politically speaking”

Both parties failed to deal with institutional racism as a top priority, and so many are paying the price. For so many of us, Democrats included, POC’s problems are out of sight, out of mind, until the next outrage-triggering event. Many now are beyond fed up.

Comment by Grandson of Man Wednesday, Aug 26, 20 @ 1:08 pm
Someone pointed out this to me. GOP doesn’t have black speakers to try and entice the black vote. They have them so the white can vote for them and claim they are not racist.

Comment by Union thug Wednesday, Aug 26, 20 @ 1:10 pm
=I know one black Republican, one=

And you live in the City? Get out more. I know many and I live in a much less populated area.

Comment by Say It Wednesday, Aug 26, 20 @ 1:22 pm
Trump drew 6-8 % of the black vote in 2016. Many of the comments here reflect “you ain’t black” mindset espoused by Joe Biden.

Comment by Donnie Elgin Wednesday, Aug 26, 20 @ 1:26 pm
=== Trump drew 6-8 % of the black vote in 2016.===

If you’re touting those numbers as good… that’s a huge part of the outreach problem

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Aug 26, 20 @ 1:32 pm
===Many of the comments here reflect “you ain’t black” mindset===

Wear a mask if you’re gonna mouth breathe like that, think of the rest of us.

I really don’t know if you know what you’re saying except you wanna back an overt racist in Trump and need some sort of reason to do so.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Aug 26, 20 @ 1:35 pm
L. O. L. Election year lip service. ILGOP likes to placate black folk, we’re the show horses

Comment by ILLannoyed Wednesday, Aug 26, 20 @ 1:39 pm
If someone told me humans were a failed species bent on reckless self-destruction…I can’t see how I could disagree.

Humans need to re-program…starting now…or never.

That’s all I know.

Comment by Dotnonymous Wednesday, Aug 26, 20 @ 2:02 pm
Same old thing from the IL GOP. Hey let’s create this separate group over here for Blacks. Go into this pigeon hole instead of just being part of the regular party. Seems like more of a Democrat thing to obsess over skin color but whatever. At least they put an actual minority in charge this time. In the past the “minority outreach” task force was led by some aging white guy. Roger Claar was in charge of that for years because nothing says welcome to new faces like a guy who hosts everything at the suburban golf course.

Comment by GOPgal Wednesday, Aug 26, 20 @ 2:20 pm
This is a great idea and way past time. I come from a County that back in the mid 80s up until somewhere around early 90s had a Black Vice-Chair, along with a Gay Chairman. Several Black Precinct Committee men and women. And many Black Republican Votes. And in those times, the Republican Party knew that the whole State, and everyone in it mattered. That went away with the destruction to the party that the Ryan era brought us. If the party is honest about this alliance, it will take the State Party back to its roots, and be what restores it from the heap that it is now in. The only doubts that I have are that the Party Leadership has not been honest about expanding their base, and down right lazy in their out reach to anyone outside of their circle.

Comment by SOIL M Wednesday, Aug 26, 20 @ 2:23 pm
I think the ILGOP might be better suited to taking steps to stop the regionalization of their party. If they made the party more appealing to everyone in the state, they would likely appeal better to people of all races.

Comment by cermak_rd Wednesday, Aug 26, 20 @ 3:05 pm
As everyone no doubt already knows, we have a horrible situation in Kenosha that was exacerbated allegedly by an Illinoisan, a 17 year old white kid who shot and killed two and wounded one. This kid allegedly was a “Back the Blue” supporter and went to Kenosha to be a vigilante. The GOP “Back the Blue” supporters who try to frighten white America with African-American invaders burning down their sleepy suburbs probably won’t win too many black voters to their side.

Comment by Grandson of Man Wednesday, Aug 26, 20 @ 4:02 pm
Is Santa Paws part of the group?

Comment by Only in 2020 Wednesday, Aug 26, 20 @ 6:09 pm