During the mid-2000’s, I was blown away by a young black man who took (what we now commonly refer to as) the “video rant” to a whole new level. What he lacked in the polished production value we’re accustomed to today, he exuded in raw substance. His message proved why he was able to create product that went viral years before the artificial boosts social media sites like Facebook and Twitter give nowadays.
He was approached and took a job with a prominent conservative website and I watched in sadness as it appeared he was given very polished, high production value to his videos and it as though he was being told how to frame and deliver that message: like he was being conservatively micromanaged and milquetoasted before our eyes and it was like it must have been assumed there was no way he could have created the viral nature of his earlier videos on his own thus someone now had to tell him how to do it.
That’s how it came off to this observer and fan.
It appears to be a common perception within the conservative movement that a black person couldn’t possibly be that good at what he or she does and needs to be walked through the process so anything created will be something that won’t embarrass the company. Just where could such an impression have come from and is justified today?
We can thank people like Omarosé Onée Manigault-Newman, or just plain Omarosa.
Long before the easy promotion and near-instant visibility social media delivers, many black Republicans were working on getting out the message (many times in enemy territory), working on campaigns and running for office themselves. Very few, if any were ever offered any real positions of importance within the Republican Party. Instead conservatives embraced the superficially-flawed Stacey Dash and Joy Villa types. Some blacks were offered token positions on Fox News and are predominantly hauled out whenever a “black” issue requires translation to their audience. Blacks who are given positions of responsibility and achieve beyond the wildest expectations of their employers are quickly demoted and find themselves under the supervision of a white person who is far less qualified because if a black person is that successful, anyone can do it.
Exactly what did Omarosa do to get a job in the White House; a job she was obviously ill-equipped to responsibly keep? Exactly, what did Stacey Dash and Joy Villa do for years to be given high profile seats in the Republican Party, and in some cases, in the White House?
I spoke to a very prominent black Libertarian this morning who told me he was offered important appointments in the past and he repeatedly and respectfully declined. I get it. Who needs the hassle of trying to accomplish a job while fending off the racist insults from the left and their media, but look at some of the people who make it in the door and what they do once they get in?
It’s bad enough to be a black person and anyone who sees you walking around in public assumes you’re a Democrat. If you attend any kind of Republican event (and you’re routinely the only black person there), unless you’re introduced, it’s assumed you’ve been brought in as a guest to be exposed to a wonderful new world of conservatism OR you’re possibly a liberal plant.
Of course, not all Republicans are shortsighted. Bo Snerdley has been with Rush Limbaugh for decades and has yet to be replaced by a mediocre simply because if Bo can do it, anyone can. But Rush is special.
Many black conservatives have had to be able to deliver a message to not only friendly conservative audiences but have previously had to do so for hostile consumption; have done so because they deemed said message important to the movement and the country, not just for that self-promotional social media viral moment. Omarosa was ill equipped to counter the slings and arrows that came with being a Trump White House insider because she’s never had to. What kind of message can Joy Villa offer, seeing how she was only a conservative after she appeared in that gaudy Trump gown at the 2017 Grammy Awards? White conservative males only saw tits and ass and white conservative women only saw the material that covered them. Substance was totally overlooked.
#NeverTrumpers and other chameleons have been allowed to infiltrate the highest levels of the Party while those who’ve proven their ability to deliver a message to a wide audience are still on the outside looking in. The Democrats are really no better when it comes to putting blacks in positions of real decision making and/or influence. Almost all of those black pundits the left puts forth have no real power and have been relegated to the niche politics of race their white wonks have little practical comprehension of.
While Sheldon Adelson, Robert Mercer, Foster Friess, the Koch Brothers and Ricketts family dole out millions annually to a variety of conservative nonprofits, not one has ever approached black conservatives with a track record and offered them a sizable budget with an accountant and hired them to do what they do best. Could it be some might be able to find fresh talent and not kneejerk draw from the same wonk trough? Could it be some might be able to create content that wasn’t the predictable click bait issued because anything else would require imagination? Do they even know where to look seeing how too many conservatives only get their information from one news channel left on during all waking hours?
Thanks to the reputations of opportunistic, failed black conservatives-of-convenience and the stink they leave on the rest, trying something different may still be decades off.
Or maybe it could be that mediocre conservatives can’t have anything other than the norm in positions of influence in the movement because to give others who are proven a real chance would expose that mediocrity?
It would really suck if we were given an opportunity to be successful… again.
[…] While Sheldon Adelson, Robert Mercer, Foster Friess, the Koch Brothers and Ricketts family dole out millions annually to a variety of conservative nonprofits, not one has ever approached black conservatives with a track record and offered them a sizable budget with an accountant and hired them to do what they do best. Could it be some might be able to find fresh talent and not kneejerk draw from the same wonk trough? Could it be some might be able to create content that wasn’t the predictable clickbait issued because anything else would require imagination? Do they even know where to look seeing how too many conservatives only get their information from one news channel left on during all waking hours? — Conservatives Are Why We Get Dashes, Villas, and Omarosas […]