GOP: Stop Being Afraid to Talk to Minorities

For more than a year, I've tried to get Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus to make an appearance on my Sunday morning news show on TV One, the nation's second-largest black cable network in America.

Priebus has also been invited to appear on my daily segment on "The Tom Joyner Morning Show," the largest urban radio morning show, heard on more than 100 stations by 8 million listeners.

Although Priebus said yes when we talked in a South Carolina diner on the day of the GOP primary debate in January 2012, he hasn't honored his word to show up and talk GOP politics to the respective audiences. My team has communicated with his communications staff to lock in an appearance — we've offered multiple Friday tapings — but nothing has happened. I've spoken to him directly and all I go was, "Well, I don't know."

This is no shock to me because white Republicans have largely been deathly afraid to accept invites to appear on both shows. In fact, it has been tough even getting a call back or an email from GOP staffers.

Since the debut of my show, "Washington Watch," in September 2009, we have had an open invitation for any member of the GOP House or Senate Conference to appear on the show. In four years, Reps. Tom Price (twice), Allen West, Steve King and Pete Olson have appeared on the show.

None were attacked. None were called bigots and racists. None were prevented from talking. We had a polite, but firm, discourse on multiple issues. Any of them would tell you I was more than fair, providing them a forum to discuss their policy differences with President Barack Obama and Democrats. Think about that: Even the GOP back-bencher who never gets called to appear on a national TV or radio show is afraid to show up.

In fact, when former Rep. West was on the show, he told his press secretary to email all of the House Republican Conference press secretaries to say that he encouraged them to do the show, and that he enjoyed his appearance and it would be a good place to share their ideas.

The result? Nothing happened.

Take your pick of those in the GOP House and Senate leadership. All have been invited, not a single one has said yes. In four years.

You would think an opportunity to share their policies with a constituency that routinely doesn't vote for them would be welcomed. But the GOP routinely ignores the opportunity, and then they wonder why they don't get the votes of blacks and other minorities. This issue isn't about me. But what I'm describing does speak to a much larger problem with the GOP and their inability to speak to issues that all voters care about.

That's why I find it interesting that at the GOP retreat this weekend in Virginia, there is a session entitled, "Coalitions-Discussion on Successful Comm[unication]s w/ Minorities & Women." If Republicans want to understand how to successfully communicate with minorities and women, it sure would help to actually go to the forums where minorities and women can read, listen and watch.

When Michael Steele was chairman of the RNC, he appeared on my TV show and radio segments on multiple occasions. I could call him on his cellphone or at home and book him on a moment's notice. See, Steele understood that if you want to communicate a policy to black people, it helps to talk to them. Maybe him being black is the reason.

The mental block that keeps the GOP from engaging black folks and others could do with their perception of the issues we care about.

For instance, a prominent Black Republican in Illinois told me they led a presentation a few years ago with party elders about how they could attract Black voters. When it was all done, the first question from the floor was, "We are not going to support welfare."

The group of Black Republicans looked at one another and said, "We didn't even bring up welfare. What are you talking about?"

For the GOP, the idea that minorities don't care about education, taxes, entrepreneurship, homeownership, and a litany of other issues is a reason why they will never be able to capture minority votes.

It's an insult when a Republican shows up touting them being the party of Lincoln. If your last success story was the Emancipation Proclamation, baby, you've got a major problem.

Republican consultants will say that spending precious time cultivating minority voters is a waste of time. That's a short-term view. I would think that allowing the opposition party to get 90 percent of a group's vote without lifting a finger due to your own ineptitude means trouble long-term.

I've long believed that the GOP could compete for minority votes, as long as they were actually interested in listening to the concerns of said voters. But if the GOP is only trying to talk to minority voters and not listen, they'll continue to lose them.

I know a bunch of African-Americans who don't self-identify as Democrats. They, including myself, have voted for Republicans and Democrats. The issues that we care about vary. It's not about ideology or party; it's about what you can do to be of help to those in need.

If the GOP wants to learn how to communicate with minorities, they should listen to and work with the numerous minority Republicans who have been extolling this for years. If you want to hear from a couple of white guys call former Sen. George Voinovich from Ohio. He enjoyed sizeable black support because when he was mayor of Cleveland, he didn't avoid minorities and treat them as outcasts. He sat down with them, shared their concerns and worked on public policy — together. Or give Mike Huckabee a ring. When he was governor of Arkansas, he earned a lot of black votes for the same reason as Voinovich.

One issue where Republicans are finding themselves working with black civil rights leaders and pastors is in the area of sentencing reform. For African-Americans, they see a legal system that has turned into a moneymaking machine for private prisons. For the GOP governors, they see state budgets out-of-control.

A major civil rights leader told me they have found more success working with GOP governors than Democratic governors on sentencing reform.

But as long as the GOP is scared to even sit down with Black folks and other minorities, expect to keep getting dusted at the ballot box. And don't look to blame anyone else but yourself when you were given the chance and your own ignorance prevented you from reaching across the divide to talk.

Roland S. Martin is an award-winning CNN analyst and author of the book "The First: President Barack Obama's Road to the White House as Originally Reported by Roland S. Martin." Please visit his website at RolandSMartin.com. To find out more about Roland S. Martin and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.