The Pan-African Alliance and the Tufts Republicans came together last night to discuss why most black Americans vote Democrat.
The seminar-style event, at which Republicans urged black individuals to take a closer look at what the right has to offer, addressed on both the economic and social factors that impel blacks to vote Democrat.
Jordan Greene, vice president of the Tufts Republicans, began the discussion with the fact that only 10 percent of African Americans voted for George W. Bush in the 2004 election. This figure appeared low, especially in light of the fact that 25 percent of open homosexuals voted for Bush.
Greene noted the significance of this statistic, given that Bush openly opposes gay marriage, and that there was nothing in his platform that could be viewed as a parallel attack on the African-American lifestyle.
"What is it that the black community sees as an affront to their interest?" he asked.
Many black individuals at the discussion cited education as a key issue that dissuaded them from voting Republican.
"The fact of the matter is there are a lot of African Americans that are in really terrible school systems right now, and the No Child Left Behind Act, a Republican initiative, has not done a lot to help that," junior Mitch Robinson said.
Members of the Tufts Republicans countered that their party has only held office for a relatively short period of time, and that many of the problems with social programming stem from originally-Democratic initiatives.
"I think a lot of the time Republican solutions to problems are hard for blacks to accept because they take a different approach and will take many years to accomplish," said senior Nicholas Boyd of the Tufts Republicans.
The Republicans noted that the changes promoted by their party involve large amounts of structural change and will take several years to produce benefits.
"The position that I'd like to advance is that you've had 50 years of New Deal programs and where have they gotten you?" Greene asked.
Ultimately, many African Americans present at the discussion said that social programs advanced by the Republican party fail to address major problems in the black community.
Sophomore Ashley Bethel said that her distaste for the Republican party stems from the fact that, in her opinion, the group lacks an understanding of the necessities of day-to-day living.
Bethel chided Republicans for simply ignoring issues such as reduced minority access to technology, asserting that many black people and Hispanics don't know how to use a computer.
Many Tufts Republicans wanted to examine the lack of two-parent families in the black community, but many blacks in the audiences questioned the supposed benefits of the standard American family model.
"The problem that the black community feels is the demonization of the single-parent home," said junior David Dennis.
Sophomore Ayenda Inyagwa talked about his personal experience being raised by a single mother.
"I've always sort of hated this assertion that the two-parent family is the ideal," he said.
