My Republican friend and roommate just walked in close to tears...

[deadparrot]

First of all, let me preface this by saying that my friend (we'll call her Cassie) is not your typical tight-assed Republican. She's funny and good-natured, she loves to drink, watch porn, and fool around with guys. On social issues, she's moderate-to-liberal, an active feminist and supporter of gay rights. She's also a member of College Republicans. As I'm a member of the College Dems, we usually get into good natured debates, but since we're in agreement on most important issues, it's not an issue with our friendship.

It all began last week. Some background: I live in a quad; myself and two of my three roommates (one being Cassie) are white, the other was born in Jamaica to a Jamaican father and an African-American mother (we'll call her Ann). Our school is fairly small and located in a very white, conservative area, and so the black population of the school is close (it's a very everybody-knows-everybody atmosphere, from what I've heard). Over the past year, my white roommates and I have gotten to know several of Ann's black friends. We hang out in our room, gossip, watch movies, order Chinese, etc. Typical college stuff.

Anyway, about a week ago, my Cassie entered from a meeting with the College Republicans (CRs). She was obviously angry, and later I found out that, during this meeting, she asked if the day off this week was for President's Day or MLK Day, since she couldn't remember. One of the girls she thought of as a friend (who I know and dislike for reasons I won't go into here) replied, "It's MLK Day. You should know that...don't you hang out with all the black people?"

Anyway, Cassie was a bit surprised and angry about that, but everyone--including Ann--ended up rolling our eyes and (though I can't speak for everyone) seemingly shrugging it off.

Tonight, however, was a different story. She returns from another CR meeting, very flustered, asking where Ann was. I told her that Ann had been in the room briefly a while before, but she left without saying where she was going.

Cassie then ended up venting to me about this "huge fight" she'd gotten into at CRs that night with the president of the group. Apparently she told him that she wouldn't bring a black conservative to a meeting because the "they're" racists (I'm still not sure if she meant the Republican Party as a whole or simply the members of our college's CRs). Another guy, who had come buy to copy her notes for a class, asked her "Don't you have a black roommate? I didn't see her when I came by earlier." As if, Cassie said, Ann was some sort of freakish attraction instead of a human being. Another guy said that blacks didn't vote for Republicans because "blacks aren't political."

Cassie also added that other things were said that went way over the line. I didn't prod her, but said something inane about how there are jerks on both sides of the aisle, etc., though none of what she said really shocked me--I've heard it all before. She just called Ann (who's at the Multicultural Affairs Center--a popular hangout for the African-American students on campus) and ran off to find her and tell her what happened, and apparently to try and assuage some of the guilt that she's feeling. She kept saying that she was embarrassed to be associated with the group and that it might jeopardize her membership in it.

I know this rambling story doesn't really have a point, but its a sad commentary on the state state of affairs in the year 2007, and I just needed to get it out. Thanks for reading. :)

[Lex]

1. I'm surprised people can grow up and get to be adult age

and not know how racist the Republican party is.

:shrug:

[HappyWeasel]

15. Doesn't surprise me.

Ever since that stunt last election where the Republican party used overt race baiting to win the only close senatorial race in the election that they, there have been more and more overtly racist behaviors and ideas expressed by Republicans. This Dr.King Day explifies this with at least one Republican policy leader complaining about the loss of white "birthrights"....and with Dr.King getting a 84% approval rating by Rasmussen, and with Dr.King being more of an idea than a man or a politican, it would appear that at least 15% of the population support apartheid.

I am terribly sorry about this happening and wish your friend the best. Perhaps we should convince our most moderate Conservative friends, loved ones and collegues to become Independents or Blue Dogs. It just appears that as the conservatives have lost the election, they know that they lost many of their moderates and that they know that conservatism has peaked. Therefore, they are doing what we did in the late 70s and early 80s, they are imploding in on themselves, trying to get what they want done before it is truly late. However, if they haven't hijacked our system, by 2020, the Democrats will be the new national party with the isolated and ideological Republicans isolated to the Old Confederacy and confederate-sypathizing states (The confederacy plus Missouri, Indiana and Kentucky), the northern plains (the strip of states between Texas and the Canadian border) and the bee-hive of Utah,Idaho and Wyoming.

What this means is that the Republicans are trying to prune themselves of the moderates whom they are accusing of losing the election because they lack their values. Because of this, many moderate and libertarian conservatives will feel painfully alienated from their own party. (Much like lower-middle class southerners were in the 1960s and 1970s.)

[kerry-is-my-prez]

27. How about the thousands of black Republicans? They apparently don't know either.

It might be a bit more understandable for them though because they don't hear the racist things that are said "in secret."

[HappyWeasel]

29. Hmmm...

even in when there is a HUGE conflict of interest between your demographic and the opposing party, you can still find a statistically signicant amount of voters that are willing to vote the other way. By Statistically significant, I mean that they are out there, but you still shouldn't go ask a black guy if they are Republican (the odds are 9.5:1) or a Democratic evangelist, football player or basketball player(most pro ball players enter politics as neo-cons and the few dems that do it usually end up caucusing with GOP...think Elway and Swann for the former and Shuler for the latter...though you do get a Ventura in there every once in awhile) (the odds are 3:1 that you will not)....and that you would find a solidly liberal evangelist...well that odd goes to about the same as there are black republicans.

[liberaldemocrat7]

38. I view her as a libertarian. It's about the money.

Some Republicans use the social issues to get other voters into the party for their money interests. This person dupes the social crowd and the fiscal conservaties reap the benefits.

Some Republicans actually believe alot of the social drivel and the fiscal conservatism.

However your woman friend appears a libertarian.

[villager]

2. It does have a point -- that anyone who wishes to keep their soul

and compassion intact --like your friend - has no home in today's Republican party.

[napi21]

3. Well, maybe Cassie will resign her membership in the CR's

since she's seen what they really think.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. One big difference between Dems and Repubs

The Repubs view the African Americans as trophies while Dems care about them as people.

[illinoisprogressive]

5. venting helps with thinking and sorting stuff out.

In the past several years the republicans have notched up the racist stuff. They have pushed it as a wedge issue. As a result, some of the younger ones have picked up on it. The college Repubs were kids when it started so they were influenced by the retoric. They are probably not that aware of it. Your friend is because of her friends who are black. The adults slid into the racist stuff to fit in and then passed it along.
We have taken several giant steps back in race relations in this country the past decade. It's a pity.

[porphyrian]

6. I'm only surprised when people are surprised. - n/t

[BayCityProgressive]

9. the big lie

is that the GOP was ever moderate. The great "moderate" Ford voted against the civil rights act and to teach Christianity in public schools. They have always been evil. They just show it more now.

[porphyrian]

23. Fascism makes public hate easy. - n/t

[niyad]

7. WHY is she a republican in the first place? from what you have said of her views, I simply don't

get it.

I am sorry that she is learning the truth about the repugs in such an unpleasant way. . .but then, the truth about them IS unpleasant.

[Robbien]

16. I expect like many others she bought into the advertising

Gingrich etal have put a lot of money into hammering the meme: Conservative=good
Liberal=bad

[HappyWeasel]

26. I have met several moderate to moderate libertarian republicans (though no liberal republicans)

The common traits is that though they are pro-life, they usually do have an open mind on abortion and stem-cells. They are usually indifferent on the gay-rights to "family-values" spectrum.

They have a lot of expirence with entrapanuers who have gone under because of tax hikes, they are support gun rights and school choice (which might not be a bad thing) and they usually are for some sort of stepped-up medical entitlement program.

Basically, I think what we have to do is keep an open mind on the rights of rural people while trying to convince them that small-businesses have more to gain by siding with the workers than with big business.

So yeah, its basically gun rights and pro-small business that gets them to stay republicans.
We can solve this by competing for the votes of more secular gun-owners and by giving tax breaks and block-grants to small businesses that can't afford to pay their workers a living wage, we can do this by cutting of government entitlements outside of contracts to larger businesses.

[Art_from_Ark]

8. Putting on my flame suit here

I'm going to go out on a very long, very fragile limb and say that one of the attractions of the Young Repugs Club for some women (like some of my female relatives) is the chance to meet some wealthy males.

There, I said it. Flame away.

[devilgrrl]

13. I disagree...

They have a better chance of finding wealthy males chasing after SAE fraternity members. :silly:

[mrcheerful]

17. Why is that flame bait? It's just the truth, just like how some think that by rubbing elbows with

the rich republicans some of the wealth will rub off on them. Same with how they don't seem to mind paying for corporate welfare, they are under the belief that they will someday benefit from such a program. Their ego's get in the way of reality, they stand a better chance of standing along side other poor people in the welfare line. So they cheer tax breaks to the rich, gladly paying for the taxes that the rich no longer pay and dream about the day they will become one of the elite. You find these same people at the local lottery out post spending 100's of dollars on lotto tickets because they know that to win you have to play. It's even sadder when its a person that steals from their childrens welfare to buy lotto tickets ranting about how tax breaks for the rich trickles down to everyone and this week they know they picked the winning numbers so the tax cuts will come in handy.

[HappyWeasel]

28. Yeah...and...

..and also the idea that money taken from taxes just "dissapears". It appears that the science classical economics is based in is Newtonian, so the idea of the Law of Conservation is alien to them.

[Homer12]

10. Your friend is learning

She has finally seen for herself the true face of bigotry and racism. I wouldn't push politics at the moment with her, but I have to ask Why does she consider herself Republican?

[deadparrot]

21. In all honesty, I really have no idea.

It puzzles me, too. She's near libertarian on most issues, socially and fiscally (she plays the "I'm a fiscal conservative" card a lot). When she chides me, it's usually as a "tax and spend liberal." While I assume she supported the Iraq War at the outset, in all the time I've known her, she's never really spoken up about it and I've never pushed the subject. She's hardly a privileged white girl; she's the first in her family to go to college and she's met certain income requirements for federal aid. She's also said in the past that her family, by and large, are Democrats. Maybe she's just doing the Alex Keaton thing and rebelling...who knows?

Like I said, politics is such a touchy subject in this day and age that since we agree on most major points, I don't nitpick.

[The Traveler]

11. Growing pains

Part of growing up is realizing the limitations of the groups with which one associates. Some of these limitations are unacceptable and force one to seek new associations or alteration of views. I suspect this process doesn't really ever end if one retains the ability to learn ... I'm 50 and this sort of thing still happens to me from time to time.

But I disagree that the story is pointless. Sounds like your friend is a good woman and is continuing to learn. For my part, it is good to know that sort of thing is going on out there in real life.

[RaleighNCDUer]

12. It does have a point.

It shows she is beginning to understand where a significant part of her side are really coming from.

And she is rightfully ashamed.

May she continue her journey to the light.

[kath]

14. she's an "active feminist" and a Republican?? Makes no sense at all.

not only are the Repugs all about racism, they're also all about patriarchy, misogyny, etc.

[madeline_con]

22. Yep, she "fell in with the wrong crowd".

:rofl:

[deadparrot]

31. She advocates birth control, abstinence-free education,

and spent last night in disbelief over some class readings that discussed 18th century doctors calling women diseased and psychotic when they got their period, and the various medical procedures undertaken to combat it. She found out that one of her best friends from home had gotten pregnant, and started ranting about using a condom. She's stated she doesn't want to marry or have kids. She's hardly your typical right-wing religious nut. If there were more people like her in the Republican party, the national dialogue would be a lot more intelligent and civil.

I knew some people on here would be hard on her, but she's 19 years old. Her family is quite poor and fairly religious. When I first met her last year, she went to weekly Bible study (admittedly, that changed fast). She's come a long way in a year and a half. Give her time.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

18. Shouldn't you use this time to point out that all this is no coincidence, but a natural

consequence of the modern (Reagan/Bush) era Republican Party's hostility towards African Americans? And that the push by this gang to pretend that the 60s never happened and turn back the cultural clock is inconsistent with her views on social/cultural issues?

That maybe, at least as you've portrayed her, the Republican Party is perhaps not the best fit for her?

:shrug:


You don't have to do it in a "come join us" kind of way.

But I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to say there's "jerks on both sides" when the jerks are on HER side acting in a way wholly consistent with what we know of her party.

[Alcibiades]

19. Many people simply adopt the political party of their parents.

If it's a bad fit, college would seem to be a good time to find that out. Lots of kids do.

Anyway, when I was in school, and I'm sure it's no different now, being a college Republican was a line on your resume, particularly if you were an officer of the club, particularly if you are someone with some sort of political ambition. Now, the idea that someone might put such a thing on a resume seems quaint, but it probably would help you get a job on K street or whatever.

[maxsolomon]

20. ahhh, college

see what happens when you shelter your little girl from the real world until they go off to Colorado College, conservative dad?

she finds out what conservatives are like anyway.

perhaps arranged marriages or polygamy would keep them dumb & pregnant.

[Cleita]

24. After the civil rights movement of the sixties, southern

Democrats were race baited for their votes by Richard Nixon in what he called his Southern Strategy. Here is a WP article that refers to it:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/13/AR2005071302342.html

He was successful and was the main reason all those formerly blue states turned red. There's more information out there if you google and are interested.

The Republicans are trying the same strategy again for 2008 but this time it's about the immigration issue. Again they are baiting for latent racism in Democrats as well as keeping their Republican base in place who might be a bit disillusioned about the Grand Old Party.

If racism could be eradicted in American, the Republican Party would be only a bad memory.

[HappyWeasel]

30. What's fucked up is that this was a party formed to combat racism.

However, I don't see how they will be able to win the southwest if they keep being racist against Mexicans and other mestizos. I mean, Karl Rove was beginning to turn them into a swing group with his message "its the abortionists, stupid." This worked with orthodox catholic voters. However, with the new message "its the niggers, jews and spics, stupid"....well...that could change that...and to add insult to injury, as hispanics assimilate into american society, they become more socially moderate.

[Cleita]

33. They are lining up already with immigration as an issue.

It's just race baiting. They don't give a shit about people's jobs that supposedly the undocumented workers take from Americans and that they supposedly use all our social services, blah, blah, blah, but they are going to campaign on it like they really care and the Democrats don't.

It was the same way that they race baited the south about desegregation appealing to the fears that whites had about integration, sharing buses and their kids going to school with your kids, blah, blah, blah.

Now the Republicans are making nicey with the AAs because they have a new ethnic group to dump on and demonize for votes. It's white Democratic votes that they are after too, just like it was in the south.

[Infinite Hope]

35. Well...

...your point stands, but the Republican Party not in the least created to combat racism. The notion that it was even created to end slavery isn't completely accurate. The Republican Party began as sort of a catch-all for those associated with the abolitionist movement and others. The Republican Party and many of its members, including Lincoln, believed in preventing the spread of slavery more than immediately ending it.

Sorry, this is more of a point of order. Your point stands that it is difficult to believe that the party that began as the "more friendly" party to those of African descent is a far cry from its former self.

[Catherine Vincent]

25. ...

"It's MLK Day. You should know that...don't you hang out with all the black people?"

As if the black people are the only ones that are supposed to know about that? :eyes: Is your friend upset that they actually said that to her or is she upset that people know that she hangs out with black people and they (republican friends) may talk about her behind her back?

[deadparrot]

34. The first, I'm almost positive.

She's certainly not embarrassed about hanging out with Ann and other of her black friends. She went to a high school that was 60% black, she attends many if not most of the events put on by the African American student organizations on campus with Ann, even if she's the only white person there. She's one of those people who is at ease in most any situation, which is something I really admire her for.

[Infinite Hope]

36. Yes...

based on the story, she seemed like someone truly hurt by the situation, not someone fearing her association with blacks.

Her need to talk to someone of African ancestry so soon though does indicate, as you mentioned, some feeling of guilt. It's misplaced guilt, but such guilt is common because she feels associated with those people and perhaps isn't confident that she herself sees them as 100% equal. It seems she may be torn because she knows and personally believes them to be equal, but has images that the media has pressed in her mind all her life; essentially, she seems to be seeking reassurance of her true beliefs over those perpetuated by the media and prejudiced friends she closely associates with. This is quite common in predominately white areas, in my experience, and is a positive growing experience. Her immediate need to talk to her contact of African descent shows to me that she needed to resolve inner conflict. Your friend is a good person and it's inspiring that she's so determined to resolve inner and outer issues on race to achieve understanding. I commend her.

[Infinite Hope]

32. K&R. It's important to write about such stories and get it out in the open.

Thanks for contributing something of substance and consequence. We need more of this on DU.

[Irreverend IX]

37. College Republicans?

I have fond memories of those little shits. One conversation I had them went something like...

Me: "How's it going, guys?"

CR: "Fine, uh, do I know you?"

Me: "Yeah, I was at the meeting last week."

CR: "Were you? I guess there were a lot of people."

(I approach a chatting group of CRs off to the side)

Me: "Hey guys, have you heard about the national committee's new grassroots activism campaign?"

Them: "Uh, no..."

(I begin handing out pieces of paper)

Me: "We're trying to get fifty people to sign up each month. Every chapter in the country is doing it."

Them: "Wait a minute, these are... military enlistment forms!?"

Me: "Yeah, don't you think it's important that we support our commander in chief?"

Them: "Uh..."

I wish I'd written down some of the sheepish excuses that followed. One guy said that he "could do more here than over there" because "I buy, like, 4 to 12 DVDs every week", thereby keeping the US economy strong.