Detroit News
Sept 7 2004

GOP convention sees growth in minorities

Republicans claim count is up 70%

By Alison Bethel / News Washington Bureau Chief

NEW YORK — Minorities are more in evidence at the Republican National
Convention than ever before, showing that the party is making progress
— but still has miles to go — in reflecting America’s ethnic makeup.

Convention officials say the number of minorities in attendance is
up 70 percent from 2000, now representing about 17 percent of the
4,952 delegates. Of the 118 delegates from Michigan, 24 are listed
as minority members: 12 blacks, three Hispanics, two Chaldeans, two
Native Americans and one each of Lebanese, Native Hawaiian, Caribbean,
Asian and Armenian.

“The number of blacks — the number of first time blacks — I have seen
at the convention and at the hotel has just made me excited,” said
Mercedes Kinnee, a businesswoman and black delegate from Flint. “It
shows that Bush has really reached out.”

Thirty-year-old Andrew Wendt, a Hispanic candidate for state
representative in Saginaw and a delegate from that city, agreed.
“Today we were at the Michigan delegation breakfast and walking in was
(former black Republican congressman) J.C. Watts,” he said. “We see
it on television and everyone says, ‘The Republican Party should be
reaching out,’ and it has been reaching out. Seeing all these African
Americans and Hispanics running for office and being at this convention
is inspiring.”

Some have criticized the party for listing Lebanese and Chaldeans as
minority groups, But Michigan Republican Party spokesman Matt Davis
shoots back that the calculation of minorities is no different than
presidential candidate John Kerry’s Mozambique-born wife, Teresa
Heinz Kerry, referring to herself as African-American.

“Talk about a stretch,” he said, turning his attention back to
Michigan’s delegation. “It’s not just more diverse than it was, it’s
getting more diverse and that’s a testament to the way Republicans
are addressing the concerns of minorities.”

The non-partisan Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
in Washington reported this month that the 167 black delegates at
this year’s GOP convention represent a record 96.5 percent increase,
with the largest number of blacks coming from Michigan, Louisiana,
Maryland and New York. Hispanics represent the largest minority group
at the convention with 297 delegates this year.

But while those attending the convention tow the party line about
Bush’s impact on the lives of minorities, others wonder how meaningful
the increase really is, particularly when whites make up most of the
convention’s officers and speakers.

“A: Have they increased their numbers? Yeah. However, this is a top
down increase in the numbers. There has been no increase in black
support for the Republicans nor has there been any increase in the
number of African Americans in the primary process or the delegate
process,” said David Bositis, senior research associate at the
Joint Center.

“The leadership and the Bush campaign, for their own reasons mostly
having to do with appealing to white swing voters, have determined it
is more beneficial to have more minority voters,” Bositis added. The
Republican Party, he contends, increased the overall number of
delegates by 450 people this year. “This isn’t like they had to turn
away white people. They have as many, if not more, white people …
They purposely picked African Americans for reasons that are a
political calculation. But is the party any more diverse? No. It’s
no more diverse than last time.”

In the early decades of the 20th century, blacks voted overwhelmingly
for Republicans, the party of Lincoln. “The big change came (in 1968)
with Barry Goldwater and he effectively transformed the party,” said
Bositis. “He very much brought the South into the Republican party,
really for the first time, and the nature of the relationship between
African Americans and the Republican party changed. When it became
a white southern party it meant that African Americans were going to
have quite a different relationship with the party.”

Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, who spoke during prime time
Tuesday from the convention floor, said the Republican Party is making
efforts to bring its message to the minority community. The visibility
might not be there, he said, but the numbers are growing.

“You haven’t lived until you’ve walked into a room and people say,
‘Who are you and what are you doing here?’ The Republican Party has
to state the issue of why the party works for blacks. And it’s a
tough case to make because we’ve allowed another group (Democrats)
to define us for 40 years,” said Steele.

Adds Bishop Keith Butler, of Word of Faith Christian Center in
Southfield: “The GOP is going to the black community … This is the
first time really that I have seen it happen like this. There is an
old saying, ‘If you want to catch fish, you have to go to where the
fish are.’ “