BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The head of the Alabama Minority GOP believes the overwhelming majority of black churchgoers are conservatives, but continue to shy away from the Republican Party — which was founded as an anti-slavery party — because of peer pressure.
“If you look at the black church, 90 percent of what you see is conservative,” Alabama Minority GOP Chairman Phillip Brown told the Birmingham Times. “We believe in personal responsibility. We believe life is precious, so therefore abortion is wrong. We believe in the traditional concept of marriage. Most in minority communities believe in conservative thought, so why do we have such a disconnect between our faith in God and our actions in the voting booth?”
The answer, he believes, is simple.
“I teach high school, and peer pressure is a big thing. Somehow we get the feeling that when you become an adult, peer pressure is not that big of a deal. But it is, and it gets even worse,” he explained. “You get pressure from your peers in the neighborhood. You get pressure from your peers in church. You get pressure from your peers at work, as well as other social environments. You’re catching it from all directions.”
Brown said he became a Republican early in life, in spite of his family not being politically active.
“I looked at the values my dad instilled in me,” he said. “The importance of integrity, the importance of faith in God, the importance of personal responsibility, the importance of working hard and paying for what you get. I began to look at the political landscape…[and] felt like [the GOP] was a natural fit. I didn’t realize that black folks weren’t Republicans.”
Brown is now a vocal supporter of Donald Trump and dismisses accusations from some in the media that the billionaire real estate mogul as a racist.
“When I first heard about Donald Trump, he caught my attention because both the establishment Republicans and the establishment Democrats hated him,” Brown said. “It’s almost like having the principal come into your school and most of the kids don’t like him, but you figure he’s a pretty good guy. It’s like a classroom teacher who most kids consider mean and tough, which means he’s probably doing a good job.
“We keep saying Washington, D.C., is broken,” he continued. “It’s not broken. It’s a well-oiled machine that needs to be broken. I believe Donald Trump is the type of person who will break it up, who will make a change. He’s a businessman, not a politician. He knows how to deal with politicians. He’s not going into the job to get rich, he’s already rich.”
Brown concedes that the Republican Party in Alabama and nationally has not done a good job reaching out to minorities in recent decades, but said his organization is making inroads.
“Our whole effort is to break down the stereotype that Republicans are old white guys who hate black folks,” he said. “Black people may not necessarily feel real comfortable going to an all-white Republican convention, especially after being told all their lives that Republicans don’t care about them. They may feel comfortable, however, if they come hang out with us, where there are a lot more folks that look like them.”
The full interview can be found at The Birmingham Times.
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