The Daily Signal - Advice for Reaching Black Voters (and Who's Doing It Right)

Episode Date: June 13, 2022

Republicans have faced their share of challenges to connect with black Americans and persuade them to support GOP candidates. In the 2020 election, for example, black voters overwhelmingly backed Joe Biden over Donald Trump, 92% to 8%. But all hope isn't lost. Political consultant Raynard Jackson, who advises Republican candidates, says there are some political leaders who are making positive inroads. He joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" to offer his critique of the Republican Party and share solutions. Jackson also talks about two importance events for black Americans in June—Black Music Appreciation Month and Juneteenth (this coming Sunday). Listen to the show or read a lightly edited transcript at DailySignal.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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available on Disney Plus in Canada. This is the Daily Signal podcast for Monday, June 13th. I'm Doug Blair, and I'm Rob Louis on. On today's show, I speak with Raynard Jackson about the ways conservatives can do a better job of connecting with black Americans. We also read your letters to the editor and share a good news story about an organization that donated a wheelchair van to a Navy veteran whose son has cerebral palsy. Before we get to today's show, we want to tell you about our favorite way to get the news

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We'll start sending you the morning bell tomorrow. Now stay tuned for today's show. Coming up next. We are joined on the Daily Signal podcast today by Raynard Jackson. He's a return visitor to the Daily Signal, also a contributor to us, and he's involved in many different Republican and conservative causes helping Republicans. candidates connect with the black community, but also, Raynard, I think the thing that I appreciate most about you is your just transparency and honesty about things that we as conservatives can do

better when it, particularly it comes to the black community and ways that may may have failed in the past and can do better in the future. So it's great to have you back in studio today. Appreciate it, Rob. You know, I'm a big fan of yours and a loyal support of the Heritage Foundation, so thanks for having me. Absolutely. Well, let's start with a couple of the signature events that are taking place this month in June. And I want to begin with an event that I actually didn't know about until you brought it to my attention. And I think it's really important that we begin here. And that is Black Music Appreciation Month, started by a friend of yours, Kenny Gamble,

over 40 years ago, is my understanding. He's somebody who has had an instrumental effect, not only in R&B music, but also you've had him perform at the Republican National Convention many years ago. So tell us about the importance of celebrating black music and why it's so important for us as conservatives to recognize it along with other forms of music that we all appreciate. Without that, Rob, you and I have talked over the years about Republicans and conservatives having it, in my view, bizarre view that conservatism should be colorblind. So when I walk into a room, they shouldn't notice and recognize that I'm black. Well, if that's your position, then I need to take you to an eye doctor. and let's get this problem straight.

And so I'm often asked by a lot of conservatives, why do we need Black History Month? Why do we need Black Music Month? Well, because white folks wouldn't talk about the contributions Blacks made to American history as well as music, not black music, music. And so out of frustration, we created Black History Month back in the 30s or 40s,

And Kenny Gamble, the prolific songwriter, producer at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Grammy Award winning Songwriters Hall of Fame. He back in 1979, Rob, and I know you weren't born then, created. That was my birth year. You're dating yourself, Rob. And so out of frustration, he created Black Music Month. and every president since Jimmy Carter in 1979, and even Trump, for those out there that think Trump is this big boogeyman, he even acknowledged it four years in a row.

And so it's important not only because when you look at it, Rob, the American culture is the most influential culture in the world. That's why you go on YouTube, you see every country emulating America's culture. And most of that is driven today by hip-hop. which is an extension of R&B and black music. And so we can use that for good or bad as far as images we put out there. And so that's what the rationale behind Kenny Gamble setting up Black History Month.

And I must say, Rob, you all at Heritage are always, in my view, cutting edge and leading a charge on diversity. And your organization, the Heritage Foundation, is the only major conservative organizations that's even paying homage to black music musk. And also, I don't know if you realize this, Rob, back even during the slave date, a lot of the old gospel hymns, you realize those were coded messages to the other slaves, and they used it through music

because they knew the mass didn't understand anything they were saying. So they used gospel music to communicate to other slaves about what they were doing. The Underground Railroad all was predicated on music. Fascinating. I did not know that aspect of it. You wrote a recent column, which I would suspect is controversial in some quarters for War Room. And one of the things that you say in this column is that Republicans and conservatives have no problem recognizing other types of music, whether it be country music, but they have a hard time recognizing this. Why do you think that is, Raynard?

The simple short answer, Rob, is conservatives have very little contact with credible black folks. They will go around and grab black folks that sing the song they want them to sing. But as I've written and you and I've talked about for years, Rob, conservatives need to have blacks around them who will tell them what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. And this stems from this, as I said earlier in this podcast, this foolish notion that conservatism should be colorblind. I think you should recognize that I'm black when I walk in the room, just like I think you should recognize a female that she's a woman when she walks into the room. That's healthy there. But I'm amazed, Rob. A lot of articles I write, and even here for the Daily Signal, under your supervision,

a lot of my columns are deemed controversial because I come from a communications background, and I'm just dumbfounded, Rob, by the toned deafness of conservatism. And they don't know how to effectively communicate with blacks, because, number one, it has a racial component to it. And it gives you a classic example, and I've shared this with you many times. When you go into the black community, when you start talking with the word conservative, you lose a lot of blacks. But when you talk to them about traditional values, which is our term for conservatism,

same meaning, same but different words. That's called understanding your audience. It's not identity politics. and I get furious when I hear conservatives talk about we don't support identity politics. Well, let me tell you what identity politics are in a way that your audience can understand. When McDonald-Hamburgers is trying to sell advertisement to the black community, they use hip-hop music. They don't use country music.

They don't use opera. That's called market segmentation, identity merchandising. And so it is within the political arena. If you're trying to speak directly to the black community, there are certain words you need to use that resonates with them no more so than when you're speaking to women or the Hispanic community. There are certain words that resonates with them more than other groups. That's smart business there. It's not us segregating people by race. It's called smart marketing.

Renard, I want to come back to this in a little bit more detail. But before we shift too far away from music, you told me. a fascinating story about Kenny Gamble. Can you share that with our listeners so they didn't know a little bit more about him and his philanthropy and the way he's trying to help his community? Yeah, Kenny's just a great, great guy. And I hope to have him on one of your podcasts here in the future because Kenny's a good guy. And he's very conservative and very involved in the community.

So back in the day, back in the 80s and 90s, he lived out in the suburbs with people like Patty LaBelle, the famous singer, Dr. J. NBA, and he just had this epiphany because he was born and raised in Philadelphia, so he sold his home out there in the suburbs, bought a hundred city blocks behind City Hall in Philadelphia. At that time, this is the early 90s, Rob drug dealers, prostitution, gang violence, and boarded up, built. It was like Watts on steroids back in the day.

And so he uses all money. bought all this property, rehabbed the property. He set up a construction company called Universal Construction, and he didn't kick the poor folks out of the neighbor. What he said, I'm going to train you in construction. I'm going to give you a job. I'm going to let you buy these houses, and I want you to own them. He didn't rent them. He let the people own them. Then he set up a universal charter school from K through 12 so that, the people could stay in their local community, fix it up, and then their kids could be educated all in the same community.

And so I was able to get Kenny a speaking role in the 2000 convention there in Philadelphia. Then in 2012, I was able to get Mitt Romney as I had nominee for president to actually take a walking tour of Kenny's development and meet with the kids, meet with the residents, and it was all over the news. to my frustration, Rob, no one in the conservative movement has really cultivated a relationship with him on an ongoing

basis. He took private money and as opposed to complaining about white folks and racism, he built this. He created jobs for the local resident. He committed, created an educational system. A lot of his kids now gone off to college and graduated college and are

productive members of our society. That's conservatism if I ever saw. You are talking in your previous answer about some of the challenges that we as conservatives sometimes encounter. But you have worked with a number of Republicans and conservatives who have done things well. And I want to give you an opportunity to share some of those examples. The one that comes to mind for me is the work you did with Governor Ron DeSantis in Florida. But I'm sure he's not alone. Who are some of the people who actually get it and are doing things well?

You know, to this day, I think Ron DeSantis was one of the best candidates and clients and campaigns I've ever worked on. He gave me just carte blanche, hey, go out there and do what you do and just tell me when and where you need me to show up. And it was beautiful. Another guy that understands this, Rob, and I think your audience may be surprised at who I'm about to name, Brian Kemp, the governor of Georgia. He gets it. He gets it. I talk with him, heck, two or three times a week. And sometimes about the campaign, other times just about life.

But he reads all of my columns, and he'll tell me when he disagrees. But he says a lot of my – he said, you're right on point. And he's actually practicing what he preaches. Another good guy that's in the neighborhood of really getting it is Eric Griggins in Missouri. And my hometown, St. Louis. but he's running for the U.S. Senate there in Missouri, he gets it. And what I find interesting is it isn't amazing that all the people I just talked about, all of them have military background.

So they are very comfortable around blacks and other minorities because as soon as you put that uniform on, you become green. And they bunk with each other and shower. And more importantly, they go on the front lines together, and they don't care what your color is. And so those are a couple of guys that, I think really good. And of course, you get it too, Rob. I'm not going to leave you out of you and the Heritage Foundation have been really aggressive in this area. And I hope you all continue to do so.

Well, thank you. I think it's our full intent to do so. Take us back to Governor DeSantis's election campaign and how in particular he was able to connect with some of the black voters in that state. I believe on the issue of education. This was years before Glenn Yonkin and and other candidates really seized on the concern that parents had. I mean, DeSantis, in other words, was really ahead of the curve. Oh, big time. What's interesting, there are two issues. I think we got about 17% of the black vote.

And, you know, DeSantis won by less than a tenth of a point. I mean, very, very close raised. And that black vote was the margin of victory there. And we should note that he was running against a black Democrat. Right. Andrew Gillum. and who the, I mean, I'm going to tell you something, Andrew Gillum in 2018 and Stacey Abrams, running for governor in Georgia in 2018.

Those were two of the best candidates I've ever seen in my life. Now, forget about their politics and their platform, but just as a candidate put my analyst had on, there were remarkable candidates. Wrong on the issues by a long shot. But what gravitated the black community tourist DeSantis in 2018 were two issues. With Black Mills Second Amendment, that was a real, real attractive feature because a lot of blacks, despite what liberals think, own guns. Legally, I ain't talking about Chicago gangbangers.

I'm talking about Americans, says they own guns. And the second thing with Black's males were the issue of entrepreneurship, because Gillum said, during the campaign, Ron DeSantis' opponent, and the Democratic side, he said, if you vote for me, I'm raising your taxes on small business. And when I told DeSantis, they're like, okay, well, let's go ahead to head and deal with that issue. And he ran on a platform that would be business-friendly

to smaller minority businesses. He committed to making sure small and minority firms had access to capital, which is a major issue. And when you look at this cabinet, Rob, it reflected America. And matter of fact, just released the Santis has nominated a black conservative to the state Supreme Court. And she'll win confirmation going away. And then with female voters in Florida and 18, the issue of school choice and vouchers education was the driving force behind black women. And that, and the Santis was even surprised at how that moved the black vote among females.

So, Rob, why is it that the national conservative movement don't adopt those? Because those are the issues, Yonkin tapped into it. Yeah, he certainly did. And no doubt about it. I think he still is. He still recognizes the importance of that. Let me read an excerpt from your most recent column. You say, I want to issue a challenge to the conservative movement.

I would love to see conservatives and leadership positions offer the black community convincing arguments as to why they should join the Republican Party or the conservative movement. But they are not allowed to mention Lincoln, Martin Luther King, or civil rights. I don't think conservatives are capable of doing this. Please prove me wrong. Why the pessimism there, Raynard? Because, Rob, I'm so tired of conservative always talking about the past. Anybody that follows politics knows the role of the Republican Party historically.

but it's like my good friend Janet Jackson once said to me, what have you done for me lately? And if we have to continue, Rob, to go back two, three hundred years to justify blacks being involved in the party, then we're doing something wrong. And it's amazing. One of the response, I got an email from someone I don't know about my column that you referred to, and they were, was making the argument that the conservative movement does, should not. go and target the black community. If we as black want to join the conservative movement or the Republican Party, there's nothing stopping them. Yeah, but just can you imagine if McDonald's had the same approach? Well, we got a Big Mac here. We're not going to try to persuade you

that ours is better than the Whoppers. So if you want to come to McDonald, just come. They would have been out of business decades ago. If you really believe in conservatism, Rob, it's incumbent upon us to go into the highways and the byways and to compel them to come to us. If you believe in a conservative message, why would you want to keep it to yourself? I got the cure for cancer, but I'm not going to go out to cancer victims

and help them heal themselves. I'm going to keep it to myself saying, if you got cancer, I got the solution, but it's up to you to figure out that I got the solution. That doesn't make much sense to me. So I'm challenging conservatives, Rob, to stop talking about the past

how can conservative principles, Rob, help me with this inflation we're going through now? How can a conservative message help me with this gun violence and gang violence in all over the country? How can a conservative message create a better economic environment for me to have a job or me to create a job? So stop telling me about our past and tell me what you can do in my presence so I can have a future. That makes sense. So I asked you why you were pessimistic about where we, where we, where we are today. But at the same time, you are somebody that I've known for many years.

You've done things here in Washington, D.C., and all across this country, to try to get conservatives to understand the points you were just making. What motivates you? What's your passion? Why do you keep coming up every day to try to make a difference, Renard? Insanity. Because I'd be very candid with you, Rob, and your audience. If I had an ounce of a brain, which is an insult to those with an ounce of a brain,

I would have left this party in movement decades ago. But I don't know what the definition of no is. Sort of like Democrats don't know what the definition of a woman is. So, but Rob, I'm telling you, the easiest thing for me to do right now would be the drop out of the game. But the sign of a true leader, Rob, is someone who said, I am not going to give up on the party that I joined decades ago. and I'm not going to back out of the game.

I'm going to force change from within. I define success when I see a black conservative been asked before a conservative to testify on military affairs. I define success when I see a black woman talking about entrepreneurship, not how she used to be on welfare, not how many abortions she's had, not how she used to be strung out on drugs. are a conservative's ability to highlight, Rob, what I call the Cosby effect. When have you ever seen conservatives highlight an intact nuclear black family whose

daughter is not producing babies out of wedlock as a teenager, whose son is not strung out on drugs, who the kids don't sass their parents? Where are these images of black? There are more of them, Rob, than these, what I call the ghettoization of black voters by conservative. Stop showing me people who were strung out and on welfare. Show me positive images. And conservatives refuse to do it, Rob. It's almost like what I call the Tarzan effect. I do a lot of work in Africa. Let me tell you, Rob. Tarzan wouldn't last one minute in the real Africa. In the Bush, no, he wouldn't last one minute. But it's almost like the crazy white man, Tarzan back in the day in all the movies they did back in the 50s and 60,

Tarzan had to come into Africa and save the cannibals and barbarians from themselves. And it's like the Great White Hope phenomenon. So conservatives have done the same thing up to this present day in 2022, Rob. When are we going to understand, Rob, what the eyes see and the ears here, the mind believes? So if you keep showing me black dysfunctional family and saying we white conservatives are going to go into the black community and save them from themselves. Guess what? You're going to continue to get black folks like me offended,

and we're not going to be involved. But show me with your speeches, you communicating with black families across the board. Let me hear you saying something positive about the black community and how you want them to join the fight. But don't come into our community preaching down to us, lecturing us on what we need to do.

We know what we need to do. Tell me how your policy is going to tie into that. And then I can get my mind around. I'm welcoming the conservative movement. Thank you for sharing that. Renard, I mentioned, I opened this conversation by saying I wanted to talk about a couple of notable reasons, notable things that were happening in June. The other coming up soon is Juneteenth. It falls on a Sunday this year.

It is the second time, I believe, that it will be recognized as a federal holiday. So what does Juneteenth mean? Well, the short version, Juneteen, remember Lincoln signed the Amasimpatient Proclamation, I think, in 1865. I think that was before you were born. And basically, when he signed it, it took almost a year before the message had trickled down to the south in Texas, Mississippi, Georgia, that blacks were indeed freed at that point. So it was a lag time. So Juneteenth, when blacks finally found out in Texas,

and other Southern States that they were freed, they created this big old celebration. So that's in essence what Juneteenth is. Now, what's fascinating this year, Rob, June 10th falls on the same Sunday that Father's Day is. So how cool would it be, Rob, if major conservative organization and conservative leaders were to across the country give a series of speeches, what I would entitle, a conservative vision for civil rights in the 21st century and talk about the value and the role of the family,

especially in the black community. We are so busy redefining what the family is. When I say family, mom, dad, and kids. But Susie doesn't have two mommies and Johnny doesn't have two daddies. And let's get that straight. And so can you imagine if a conservative word of tie-in Juneteenth celebration of liberation with a celebration of fatherhood and how we can have conservative policies that will reconstitute the nuclear family in the black community,

but in America overall, Rob, this is the lack of fathers in the home is an American problem. It's not unique to the black community. It's more pronounced than the black community, but it's not unique to the black community. We spent a lot of time talking about gun violence in this country and absolutely, from almost every media report is any discussion of the fatherlessness crisis you have. Or when any conservative brings it up, it seems that it's immediately rejected. So I hope conservatives do take your advice on this, and I think it is well worth a conversation. And the fact that those two dates align this year gives us an opportunity to do just that.

Renard, all of your work can be found at Raynard Jackson.com. Tell our listeners what they can find when they go to your website and maybe some other things that you have in the works. Right. Yeah, so yeah, my columns there or just Google my name or go on my Facebook, Twitter, Getter, Raynor Jackson, all my columns show up there. And a lot of times when you Google my name, the column will just pop up automatically. But, yeah, one of the other things we're working on, Rob, is to bring together because before the virus, I had the largest gathering of conservative minority entrepreneurs in the country. And I want to hopefully bring that back maybe in September. But also, Rob, there are 200. 53 minorities running for Congress right now. And we're going to have several new black congressmen come November on our side. And so I want to bring all these candidates up here at the same time in September and bring conservative leaders together to, again, show positive interaction with these, not only candidates, but these entrepreneurs as well.

We always appreciate your wise words and advice, and I think we can all strive to certainly do better and I appreciate you holding us accountable. Appreciate it, Rob. Always glad to be with you. At any time you need me, you know I'm in your corner. Who doesn't love a good story? At the Heritage Foundation, we believe that every single policy issue discussed in D.C. tells a story.

So we want to tell it well. On the Heritage Explains podcast, co-host Tim Decher and Michelle Cordero, take one policy issue a week, mix in a creative blend of clips, narration, and hard-hitting interviews to equip you on crucial issues in under 20 minutes. Subscribe to Heritage Explains wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for sending us your letters to the editor. Each Monday, we feature our favorites on this show. Doug, who's up first?

In response to Virginia's article and documentary, football coach fired for praying, hope Supreme Court allows him to thank God. Judy Jolie writes, please know, I am praying for Coach Kennedy, his legal team, and for the Supreme Court to uphold the Christian faith for each of us. I'm 71, and remember the Bible teachers I had in elementary school. I cried when they were removed, but they still live in my heart. They were there for me during a great time of need. Thank you for drawing the situation to the attention of all daily signal readers.

May God bless you richly. And in response to Anthony Kim's article, America and the United Kingdom, Most Natural of Economic Partners, Paul Bade of Mancato, Minnesota, writes, Kim noted that the fifth and last free trade negotiating meeting with the UK took place in October of 2020. Why has the effort not been continued? The date is key. That was during the Trump administration. President Biden apparently sees himself as much anti-Trump as a leftist ideologue.

If President Trump did it, Mr. Biden is determined to undo it. It's an unreasonable, even childish way to set policy, but that's what we have for the next two years. We only pray the nation survives the foolishness and that our friends and allies will be understanding and wait it out with us. Your letter could also be featured on next week's show, so go ahead and send us an email to Letters at DailySignal.com. At the Heritage Foundation, we believe voting is a sacred duty. It's how people express what course they want our nation to take. Given the importance of the ballot box, it's necessary to have a transparent and fraud-free system that can be trusted. This is why Heritage created the Election Integrity Scorecard. The scorecard compares the laws and regulations for elections state to state

and ranks them on their security and transparency. Check out the Election Integrity Scorecard at heritage.org slash election scorecard. Bernardine, you have a good news story to share with us today. Over to you. Thanks, Doug. U.S. Naval Chief Petty Officer Cassidy Spinelli told CBS News that thanks to the Semper Fai in America's Fund, She has a support system and so much more.

Deployed overseas, this Navy mom gave birth to her son Dante, who was diagnosed with a serious brain disorder. You know, you never get pregnant thinking that you will have a child such as Dante, but I can say he's my biggest blessing. He has taught me nothing but patience and true love and compassion. I had zero patience before Dante. Committed to her call as a mother and a service member, Cassidy finished her active military career and moved on to the Navy Reserves to provide for Dante.

I had one thing in my mind when I was mobilized, and that was to save money to get a wheelchair-accessible vehicle for Dante. She connected with the Semper-Fi and America's Fund, which helped her and Dante get a wheelchair-accessible car they needed. and helped move Cassaday and Dante across the country from California to Pennsylvania. Throughout the years, I mean, hospital stays. Sierra sends me on gift cards. She sends me care packages, sends gifts for Christmas. They're like the family you never knew you had. Cassidy and Dante also met case manager Sierra who had become their lifelong friend. You know, if I'm having a rough day or we're having a great day, I can reach out to Sierra and I know she's like my lending ear and my shoulder to cry on.

Sierra tells CBS News the impact this sweet mother and son do has had on her. It's a great feeling to be able to create relationships with people. You know, aside from the financial assistance, just to create relationships with people. I think the feeling is mutual. I feel like, you know, they're a part of my family. After listening to this story, Rob and Doug, it is so nice to hear about organizations like Semper Fy. in America's Fund, who are there to help our service members who have sacrificed so much. Absolutely. Well, Bernadette, thank you so much for sharing. It is important for us to

recognize the great sacrifices that our men and women in uniform make for us every day to keep our freedoms safe. We're going to leave it there for today, but you can find the DailySignal Podcast on the Rurcashay Audio Network, and all of our shows can also be found at DailySignal.com slash podcasts. You can also subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or your favorite podcast app. If you like what you hear, please leave us a review of a five-star raining. It really means a lot to us and it helps us get the word out to other listeners. Be sure to follow us on Twitter at DailySignal and Facebook.com slash the DailySignal News. Have a great Monday and a great rest of your week.

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