A Multiracial Right?: Can the GOP Build a Coalition?
Dillard, Angela D.
WHAT ARE THE prospects for a multiracial coalition emerging on the right? George W. Bush's campaign efforts to court voters of color, as well as the spectacle of inclusion and diversity at last...
...We have come a long way from the time of Jim Crow," Au Allen proclaims...
...Lee continued to hold the position on a temporary (and constitutionally questionable) "acting" basis until Clinton secured it by the backdoor method of congressional recess appointments— ironically, in August 2000 during the Republican Convention...
...Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the Republican National Committee (RNC) launched a series of initiatives to reach out to potential candidates and voters of color...
...So long as Hispanics remained a separate and disadvantaged group," she writes, "they were entitled [like blacks] to affirmative action programs, compensatory education, government setasides and myriad other programs...
...The Civil Rights Act of 1964 has changed America...
...As Powell remarked in his convention speech, "cynicism in the black community" is an appropriate response to the party's hypocrisy in rejecting racial set-asides while supporting "federal tax codes with preferences for special interests...
...During the optically stunning first night, which was devoted to education, delegates were treated to a variety of performances, including that of Representative J. C. Watts in a live broadcast from a black church in Philadelphia...
...Faye Anderson, a dedicated black conservative, recently announced that she was leaving the party after nearly fifteen years...
...Multicultural conservatives" are already positioned within think tanks, media outlets, political action committees, and an array of rightist organizations, both religious and secular...
...Widely denounced as an illusion, the "rainbow" convention did raise two important and interrelated questions: what can the right offer to minorities, and what can minorities do for the right...
...All this is good news for the Democratic Party and the left, which has had its own struggle to sustain a rainbow coalition...
...And what they themselves bring to the debate largely rests on their useful identities...
...Because she was a key player in the formation of the New Majority Council, her exit and her charges of GOP hypocrisy are particularly instructive...
...But it is a complex story...
...Have they merely exchanged one form of identity politics for another...
...This is essentially what conservatives and Republicans have said since the 1960s...
...These gestures toward bringing blacks, Latinos, and others into the GOP fold, and into the right more broadly conceived, have been impeded by a number of obstacles—most of them generated from within...
...Au Allen, Linda Chavez, and Representatives Henry Bonilla and J. C. Watts have joined forces with like-minded conservatives, including homosexuals, to put an inclusive veneer on their own movement's mainstream...
...As the struggle wore on inside (and beyond) the Senate Judiciary Committee, Au Allen denounced Lee stridently...
...Is there, beneath the bromides about individualism, assimilation, and upward mobility, a Faustian bargain between conservatives of color and their white counterparts concerning "model minorities...
...More than 75 percent support Republican initiatives for school vouchers...
...From this perspective, the most pressing question is not can a multiracial right be crafted and sustained, but who will pay for it...
...Still, the Republican Party, abetted by conservative strategists, established the Republi38 n DISSENT / Winter 2001 A MULTIRACIAL RIGHT...
...Such a coalition, which would include moderate whites and Jews, Latinos, Asian-Americans, and upwardly mobile African-Americans, could very well transform American political culture...
...The future, in substance if not always in style, may simply offer more of the same, albeit with a visually multiracial twist...
...Well-connected in Washington, she gained public attention with her 1993 article in USA Today urging the application of "Asian values" to the nation's crime problem, that is, submitting criminals to tarring, feathering, and a heavy dose of public shame...
...Get rid of them and what remains of the "American dilemma" can be solved with relatively little pain...
...Although neither Powell's warm reception nor the party's embrace of diversity—among speakers if not delegates— seem to signal real change of policy or philosophy, these events do give us a glimpse of what a "diverse" right might look like...
...This public clash between an Asian-American woman aligned with conservatives and an Asian-American man aligned with liberals was a draw...
...immigrants, had nothing to do with race...
...As David A. Bositis of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies points out, surveys show "that on the issues of school vouchers, social security, crime, housing policy and welfare, among others, black public opinion [is] neither as liberal and uniform as observers in the press, politics, and academia had thought...
...Can such a coalition produce a long-range, dynamic trend...
...Clint Bolick, the anti-affirmative action executive director of the Institute for Justice, was also a vocal foe...
...The truth is America knows that a person is what a person makes out of himself or herself, not what color a person's skin is...
...George W. Bush's campaign efforts to court voters of color, as well as the spectacle of inclusion and diversity at last summer's Republican National Convention, have made this issue all the more pressing...
...They promote a language of anti-statist individualism— as opposed to the usual group identity associated with multiculturalism—and accommodation and assimilation—as opposed to collective struggle...
...That some AfricanAmerican conservatives appear willing to assimilate on the backs of the black poor is doubly disturbing...
...ANGELA D. DILLARD is an assistant professor at New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study and author of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Now...
...can National Hispanic Assembly in 1974 and four years later aided in the creation of the Lincoln Institute for Research and Education, the nation's most prominent black conservative think tank...
...It was also about "racial stereotyping" among conservatives and Republicans—a practice, the women asserted, "at odds with the party's commitment to colorblindness and individual merit...
...Their efforts have been inconsistent and sporadic, which is hardly surprising given the relative success of the "southern strategy...
...The essential problem is obvious: one is usually inclined to bite a hand that slaps you...
...The lesbianism of Dick Cheney's daughter was kept under wraps...
...Au Allen, like most conservatives, is a devotee of a much more passive approach...
...Having destroyed legal barriers to equal opportunity, the work of the federal government is done...
...Multicultural Conservatism in America (forthcoming, NYU Press...
...More recently, in 1990, Pete Wilson's first gubernatorial campaign garnered nearly 45 percent of the Latino vote and a majority of the AsianAmerican vote...
...Courting Minorities Segments of the right have courted minorities since the mid-1970s...
...A cadre of Latino and Asian-American conservatives has worked to disguise the degree to which this thinking rests on class biases and racial (often racist) assumptions...
...They were not permitted to address sexual orientation and gay rights...
...The dream of assimilation gave way to ethnic powerbrokering...
...The feeling that there is "no room at the inn," as Clarence Thomas once put it, will no doubt continue to be an issue for Latino, AsianAmerican, and also homosexual conservatives...
...Just as colorblindness presents problems for the right—not only in terms of criticism by figures such as Powell and Anderson, but in the recognition that organizations such as the New Majority Council are necessary— so it also presents nettlesome issues to conservatives of color themselves...
...The doors to the American Dream are now open...
...Dirty Work...
...But, given Republican history since 1964, as well as the difficulties of sustaining such coalition politics, it is highly unlikely in practice...
...Indeed, her role was pivotal, since she was one of only two witnesses to testify against Lee...
...and the hip-hop gyrations of rap/soul singer Brian McKnight...
...In fact, a highly politicized and dangerous representation of "blackness" is involved, and it provides a negative standard...
...Still, even if a multiracial conservatism fails to congeal into a political movement, the presence of minority conservatives has already altered the complexion of the contemporary right...
...In 1998, Anderson was one of six black women to rebuke the Republican Women Leaders Forum for its failure to issue a specific invitation to African-Americans...
...In essence, she was sent in to do the dirty work of (white) conservative men, apparently "proof" positive that the right's aversion to Lee, the son of Chinese 40 DISSENT / Winter 2001 A MULTIRACIAL RIGHT...
...When Lee Atwater assumed the helm of the RNC in 1989, he promised that "making black voters welcome in the Republican Party is my preeminent goal...
...But instead of making good on promises of inclusion, the Republicans beat the drum against illegal (and often legal) immigrants...
...But the consequence will be tenser relationships between Latinos, Asians, and blacks, especially if assimilation is pursued, as Toni Morrison once put it, "on the backs of blacks...
...In their defense of limited government and the free market, the personal was definitely the political...
...The response of Anderson and company to this perceived slight was not only about the Forum...
...As Barbara Leeden, executive director of the Independent Women's Forum, remarks, "You can't have white guys saying you don't need affirmative action...
...Au Allen emigrated from Hong Kong in the early 1970s and became an international law attorney as well as president of the U.S...
...Asians who wonder about the cult of victimization adopted by [liberal] Asian activists would do well to see how this attitude disadvantages the Hispanic community," insists conservative Asian Week columnist Arthur Hu...
...Such behavior reinforced the Republicans' endemic "image problem" among racial and ethnic minorities...
...Even if the Republican Party does not manage to increase significantly its percentage of the minority vote, conservatives of color will play a prominent role in the political arena...
...And that may well be true—for the vast majority of whites and a significant segment of middle- and upper-middle-class minorities...
...And "while others are assimilating," says black conservative Ward Connerly, "blacks are getting further and further away from one nation indivisible...
...Few openly homosexual persons were allowed on the speaker's platform...
...For it to succeed in "outreach," the right would have to negotiate a brand of identity politics suitable instead of claiming to be blind to differences in race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality...
...Lee, who served as head of the Los Angelesbased western regional division of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense and Education Fund (NAACP-LDF), was endorsed not only by the NAACP, but by the Organization of Chinese Americans, the Asian Pacific American Labor Coalition, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the National Organization for Women...
...Chavez invokes just this sort of notion in her book Out of the Barrio...
...Consider the case of Susan Au Allen, an Asian-American woman who is in many ways typical of the emergent ideological style among conservatives of color...
...The major losers in the shifting discourse about race and identity in America, then, may prove to be the black (and Puerto Rican) poor who, pathologized and silenced, will continue to be everybody's favorite scapegoat...
...I am very concerned that as the nation's top civil-rights law-enforcement official," she explained, "Lee will advocate certain policies on race and gender issues that are contrary to the provision of equal rights and opportunity for all, and that he will have a deleterious effect on racial and gender harmony in general, and on the rights of many individuals in particular...
...PanAsian Chamber of Commerce...
...Model Minorities...
...According to conservatives, the "civil rights establishment" focuses on historical oppression and presentday discrimination merely out of self-interest, to fill the coffers of its organizations...
...Au Allen's usefulness was displayed during the Senate confirmation hearing of Bill Lann Lee, whom Bill Clinton nominated in 1997—and renominated in 1998, and again in 1999—to be the first Asian PacificAmerican to serve as assistant attorney general for civil rights...
...Social conservatism among segments of the African-American community has expressed itself in support for school prayer and against sex education, abortion, reproductive rights, and homosexual rights—a reality that some on the religious right have been eager to exploit...
...The question of what the right can or cannot do for minorities remains distinct from what select minorities offer conservatives...
...Progressives should not, however, be overly confident that the right will always sabotage itself...
...In between testy comments on Lee's work with the NAACP-LDF, Au Allen questioned whether Lee would enforce the Supreme Court's "vision of the 14th Amendment" as opposed to the "vision" endorsed by civil rights organizations...
...On the eve of the 21' century, black Republican women are still fighting for inclusion in mainstream activities in the party of Lincoln," they wrote in a letter subsequently printed as a full-page ad in the conservative Washington Times...
...Universalist" discourse about individualism, the free market, and upward mobility cannot completely erase the particular problems of identity...
...By playing to nativism during debates over immigration and bilingual education, Republicans angered and alienated potentially sympathetic Latinos, particularly CubanAmericans, and Asian-Americans...
...DISSENT / Winter 2001 n 41 A MULTIRACIAL RIGHT...
...Having enjoyed little tangible success (and little funding), Atwater's outreach division was later subsumed under the Office of Political Coalitions, which also sought to establish alliances with Hispanics, Asians, Eastern Europeans, and labor...
...But the August 2000 convention was not that inclusive...
...42 n DISSENT / Winter 2001...
...A similar affinity for both social and political conservatism exists among some Latinos and Asian-Americans...
...It may indeed help pave the way for a multiracial right...
...In 1998 the RNC launched with much fanfare a new effort in this vein, the New Majority Council...
...More high-profile figures such as Powell could be wooed and kept, more direct appeals to voters of color could be staged, and a further diversification of the conservative network could be achieved...
...They get political points by showing what a lowly race they are instead of being proud of progress that is being made...
...In California, under Richard Nixon and later under Ronald Reagan, Republicans won upward of 30 percent of the Latino vote and half of the Asian-American vote...
...But such a base is not entirely necessary to have an important impact...
...The defense—that the Forum was open to all Republican women, regardless of race, and that there was no conscious intent to exclude Anderson and the others—was unpersuasive to these black women...
...At its core, Lee's confirmation battle became (like Lani Guinier's in 1993) part of the ongoing debate about what civil rights are and should be...
...Since then, she has become a much sought "alternative" voice to offset the supposed orthodoxy imposed by Asian-American liberals and leftists...
...Historically, the Reagan-Bush years were crucial for cultivating minority conservatives, and many, including Clarence Pendleton, Clarence Thomas, Kay Cole James, and Linda Chavez, achieved positions of influence...
...tributed to nineteenth-century abolitionist Sojourner Truth, they continued: "On behalf of the millions of black women who are voters, tax payers, wives, soccer moms, caregivers, entrepreneurs, community and civic leaders, we ask the organizers of the Republican Women Leaders Forum and GOP leaders: Are we not women...
...The GOP, and the broader conservative movement that supports it, remains a house divided...
...Well, yes and no...
...Consider the paradox...
...Conservative pundit George Will saw in Lee's nomination the "aggressive cynicism characteristic of today's liberal idealists...
...Asian-American conservatives have, in turn, used Chavez's arguments as a warning to their own communities...
...Although he managed to secure a certain amount of bipartisan support, opposition came from Senators Orrin Hatch and Jesse Helms...
...failures to achieve are not due to barriers but to personal and cultural deficiencies...
...Usually all this is accompanied with assertions about the elitism, self-interest, and malfeasance of liberals and leftists...
...The scores of African-Americans, Latinos, and Asian-Americans who addressed the mostly white delegates proffered answers to both of these questions by telling personal stories filled with references to the so-called "conservative values" of family, hard work, and bootstrap self-reliance...
...For her, the goals of the civil rights movement were basically achieved by Brown v. Board of Education and the passage of the various civil rights and voting rights acts of the mid-1960s...
...The "certain policies" were, of course, affirmative action and race and gender set-asides...
...Time will tell whether it will outperform its predecessors...
...Powell is not alone in questioning the GOP's commitment to raising a truly big tent...
...Conservatives are rarely as colorblind as they purport to be...
...For three years, Clinton put forth Lee's name and for three years the Senate Judiciary Committee refused to confirm him...
...In his campaign against affirmative action, Connerly contended that racism is no longer a chief factor in limiting black advancement and that remedial federal programs harm both American society at large and those whom they were specifically designed to assist...
...The history of the modern conservative movement is intertwined with the dynamics of race, class, and exclusion—despite sporadic gestures to the contrary...
...Critics delight in pointing out that conservative African-Americans, Latinos, and Asian-Americans have no real connection to or base of support within their own communities...
...an onstage re-creation of a classroom at a mostly black and Hispanic charter school, where students shouted out their lessons to a syncopated beat...
...Echoing words atDISSENT / Winter 2001 n 39 A MULTIRACIAL RIGHT...
...It is surely possible in theory...
...She sees a direct and negative relationship between the post1965 phase of the civil rights movement and the ideologies of the Latino left...
...pOLL AFTER POLL reveals that some 30 percent of African-Americans, particularly younger ones, identify as conservatives...
...Isn't there a curious amalgam here of unarticulated class assumptions and often expressed claims about race...
...Lee is an advocate of an active model of civil rights law enforcement—deploying the institutional power of the judicial, congressional, and executive branches to eradicate the effects of past discrimination and present inequality...
...Four years earlier, in San Diego, Powell's defense of affirmative action met with boos from surly delegates...
...The year 1978 also saw the formation of the Log Cabin Republicans, a national organization of conservative homosexuals within, albeit less than fully embraced by, the GOP...
...Six black women, acting together and claiming to speak on behalf of black women, were arguing that conservative "colorblindness" could also imply bigotry...
...The star of the evening was Colin Powell...
...By claiming the "heroic" phase of the civil rights struggle as their own, conservatives can now aver that subsequent activism actually betrayed the civil rights values by embracing race-conscious policies...
...Au Allen's role was one part of an effort to redefine a "national consensus" on race, ethnicity, and gender by privileging individualism, assimilation, and accommodation—regardless of whether Republicans make good on promises of diversity and increase their support among minorities...
...To be a "model minority" in a diverse conservative coalition ends up meaning: don't be like "the blacks," who persist in seeking collective redress from the federal government and continue to exhibit signs of cultural "pathology...
...This time, the delegates cheered his criticism of Republicans who "miss no opportunity to roundly and loudly condemn affirmative action that helped a few thousand black kids get an education...
Vol. 48 • January 2001 • No. 1
