Why Would a Racist Vote Democrat?

Clippers owner Donald Sterling, alleged racist and Democrat Party contributor.

As a black man active in Republican politics, I find it noteworthy that I never feel excluded or stigmatized by other Republicans on account of my race. Race never comes up at a Tea Party meeting, or a Republican political convention, or when socializing with my conservative and libertarian cohort. On the contrary, all my encounters with race-obsessed individuals have been with self-professed liberals who treat me like a freak show exhibit.

Leftists demand an explanation for my politics. How is it possible that a black man could be a Tea Partier? How is it possible that a black man could vote Republican? What’s wrong? What’s the angle? What secret deficiency or corruption explains this oddity? The curiosity is racist in and of itself, because it proceeds from an assumption about how people “like me” ought to think.

Then I see the vile treatment of personages like Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. In the wake of the court’s recent verdict upholding Michigan voters’ choice to ban state-mandated racial discrimination (euphemistically called affirmative action), Thomas became the target of viciously racist comments from supporters of “progressive” policy.

Most recently, we learn that long-time Democrat Party contributor and Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling faces compelling accusations of racism. Prior to TMZ reporting on obtained audio which seems to record Sterling making blatantly racist remarks to his girlfriend, the NBA owner was slated to received a lifetime achievement award from the NAACP in May. Presumably, he would have accepted it eagerly.

How do we reconcile this? Why would a racist who doesn’t want his girlfriend publicly associating with black men support a political party which claims to represent the best interests of black people? How can a racist be seen by the NAACP to merit recognition for a lifetime of philanthropic achievement?

Psychological projection is “a defense mechanism that involves taking our own unacceptable qualities or feelings and ascribing them to other people.” When I encounter people convinced that blacks labor under the weight of insurmountable racism, I suspect they harbor bigotry of their own. They may not express it quite like Donald Sterling, but their worldview brims with the soft bigotry of low expectations.

If you think blacks a lower form of man than whites, but still like to think of yourself as a “good person,” it makes sense that you would support public policy which segregates “those people” for special treatment. They need your beneficent help, after all. They can’t possibly make it on their own. Indeed, if you’re being completely honest with yourself, the idea that blacks might lay full claim to their own achievements bothers you. You need them to be lesser so you can feel greater. You need them to need you.

That’s why racists would, and I believe do, vote Democrat. At some point during the civil rights movement, the racists within the Democrat Party who opposed equal treatment under the law resigned themselves to a new form of unequal treatment.

Malcolm X saw that for what it was. He said:

The white liberal differs from the white conservative only in one way. The liberal is more deceitful than the conservative. The liberal is more hypocritical than the conservative. Both want power, but the white liberal is the one who has perfected the art of posing as the Negro’s friend and benefactor, and by winning the friendship and support of the Negro, the white liberal is able to use the Negro as a pawn or tool in this political football game. Politically the American Negro is nothing but a football, and the white liberals control this mentally dead ball. Through tricks of tokenism and false promises, and they have the willing cooperation of Negro leaders. These leaders sell out our people for just a few crumbs of token recognition and token gains

While X proved racist in his own right, he correctly observed that liberal prescriptions for beneficent public policy served only to empower an ambitious establishment. Indeed, his sentiments in the clip above prove as applicable today as when first stated. How many more elections do blacks need to hand to Democrats before results are delivered? How long can false promises go unfulfilled before more blacks realize they have been manipulated by racist white liberals like Donald Sterling?