IN MY SHOES: Young, GOP And Black
The New York Times profiles Richard Ivory, a NYer whose blog, HipHopRepublican.com, is “part of a small but vibrant collection of black Republican sites that have given right-leaning blacks a sense of community during an election in which Senator Barack Obama’s candidacy has made their political stance seem particularly unlikely”:
The barbs have become like a soundtrack to Richard Ivory’s life: Uncle Tom, sellout, self-hater. Being black and Republican does indeed have its challenges - especially in New York. And even though the remarks sometimes wear on Mr. Ivory, they mostly seem to have emboldened him. …
It was in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks that Mr. Ivory engaged in politics and became interested in the Republican Party. As a staunch supporter of the Iraq war, he was often the only black person at pro-war rallies, he said.
At one demonstration in New York in 2004, he recalled, an antiwar protester, who was white, used a racial slur against him, and black demonstrators with the protester kept silent.
Mr. Ivory said he was incensed that blacks would ignore such a slur because it was aimed at someone with opposing political views.
“There was something annoying about the idea that if you were black, you had to be Democrat,” Mr. Ivory said. “The blog started out as a means to vent.” Beyond his support for the Iraq war, Mr. Ivory considers himself a conservative on economic issues who believes government should help people help themselves.
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