Ed Wilmer, Arizona Libertarian Party

Black Americans have finally re-embraced the Republican party, but I and many other party insiders fear that we will lose them as quickly as we gained their favor.

Our community has never stood by Black America, but it’s time that changed.

The open contempt and racism that we allow other members of our party to engage in has no place in modern times.

We’ve all seen it, we’ve all heard it in our meetings, workplaces, and in many cases our homes.

The recent situation with Elon Musk further illustrates that we need to have better control over the party’s public relations. How does a man with such controversial statements like Musk end up doing a nazi salute in the middle of what should be a celebratory inauguration?

I applaud Wiley for her working with Mr. Trump in order to get him up to speed with what he can and can’t say on the campaign trail. Trump has certainly made big strides in his communication methods, even if he’s still the same braggadocios celebrity that he always was.

Mr. Trump has inflamed relations at times with his rhetoric but even he has to acknowledge the power of the Black voter.

But at the very least Trump doesn’t openly speak against the Black community, sure he does the race baiting towards DEI rhetoric, which is problematic in itself, but he knows how powerful the Black swing voter can be, so he’s actively chosen to embrace them, even if only symbolically.

My point is that we as Republicans need to be more precise about who we’re letting speak for us.

We can’t have racist like Musk or Desantis representing white men’s image. Everyone already assumes we have it out for them, lets not let these guys turn them all against us.

We never repaired Black America following our promise to them as a party after the civil war. We have a chance to use our super majority to pass legislation specifically for Freedmen (Black people formerly enslaved here in the US) and we can solidify ourselves as a real choice for Black voters.

If the Republican party passes legislation for Freedmen, we will have the Black vote behind us for the next 50 years and we can save our party.

Imagine it, after all of the years of open bigotry that we’ve allowed, that few called out with the exception of black sheep like Romney or McCain, after all of that hate that we spewed, we cleaned up our act.

We should make a pact with Black voters, a social contract that says we will watch out for Freedmen, not just because they’re American citizens, but because they were the first Republicans, and they believed in us until we betrayed them.

My father campaigned on the southern strategy, so when I say that none of us our innocent, I’m not forgetting myself.

Our goal is to put aside our petty grievances and to shut out the racists who want to derail our growing coalition.

1. The Republican party must act on reparations for Freedmen descendants before Democrats have the chance to use it as a rallying cry to galvanize voters in the future.
2. We will not isolate Black voters with racist rhetoric meant to sooth the egos of the lowest common denominator in our party. We will not only mention Black voters we will hold more events where we openly court Black voters. If Trump can do it, so can the rest of us.
3. The Republican party must pass a bill to address terrorism against Black citizens, continuing where Grant and Lincoln left off. We can be the party known for protecting Black families.
4. Black Americans are already largely against abortion, let’s make sure we use that to our advantage.
5. The Republican party will bankroll Black candidates in red states with slam dunk house elections and we will help them to form a Freedmen caucus which will directly oppose the Democrats’ congressional Black caucus.
6. We will revitalize the manufacturing industry in Black cities, and we will win their votes by running our campaigns on our results, by providing gainful employment for Black youth!

This a once in a lifetime opportunity that won’t come again so we need to strike while the iron is hot. The new Republican party has just as many Black faces as any other and dammit we need to embrace that.

Let’s make sure that we’re overly welcoming to our reunited Black brothers in arms, they want to be heard, and we need to manpower. The new Republican party is a place for them once again, and this time we will make good on our promise to their community.

–Ed Wilmer, Arizona Libertarian Party