Current Events > The RNC's local efforts to win over racial minorities

(+) Yeah! (+)

...I was in search of a contact or a programming schedule at the RNCs Native American Community Center in Pembroke, North Carolina, in the largely rural, poverty-addled county of Robeson, in the states southeast corner. Pembroke marked the 21st community center opened by the RNC of the 2022 election cycle, as part of an overt racial minority outreach program. At that point, in March, it was one of the partys newest outposts, and the first specifically targeting Native Americans, hazy facts that I found out only because of some scattered local news coverage about its unveiling in late January. Since then, thered been almost nothing written about it, not in sanguine RNC press releases or small-bore local coverage. If it werent for Facebook, I wouldnt have been entirely sure it even existed.

Even then, I couldnt find much. That the RNC Pembroke center had an infrequently updated Facebook page made it an exception; I couldnt find active Facebook properties for the majority of the other RNC community centers that now dot the country, from Southern California to the Midwest to the South. Nor could I find the centers on Twitter or Instagram. A Google search yielded mostly local news coverage of ribbon-cuttings and nothing more. There are no individual websites for each outpost, or even a collective website that lists them all; the RNCs homepage features only a camouflaged search bar that can be prodded to give up the location of your nearest branch. Buried in an interactive map advertising various regional outreach events (including Election Day) are some of the addresses, but there is no contact information givenno phone numbers, no emails, no names, nothing.

The RNC community center model is the latest attempt by Republicans to court nonwhite voters, who have long eschewed the party and been demonized by its leading representatives. But 2020s frenzied election returns suggested an opportunity. Joe Bidens share of votes from Latinos decreased by eight percentage points compared to Hillary Clintons, according to a report from the progressive polling outfit Catalist. As Vox reported, this marked the most dramatic shift in a four-year period among the major racial or ethnic groups seen. The movement was stunning in areas like South Texas, where five heavily Latino counties flipped to Donald Trump.

Bidens vote share of Black Americans also decreased by three points, and the GOP overperformed with Asian Americans and Native Americans as well. It was something less than a breakthrough with nonwhite voters; Republicans losing Asian Americans by a 27 percent margin exhibited their best performance with any major racial minority bloc. But given the huge turnout increase in 2020, in raw numbers, Republicans put up vote totals that once wouldve seemed impossible even to the Pollyannaish.

The community centers were established to bore the opening further, making the appeal directly to racial minorities inside their communities, with an extremely offline, grassroots offering. This wasnt a soft sell: The centers beckon potential voters with everything from movie nights to free dinners to holiday parties to gun safety trainings, thrown by local organizers and paid for by your friends at the RNC, which has dedicated millions of dollars to the program. If those tactics sound familiar, thats because they were once used to great effect, by groups as varied as the Black Panthers in Oakland or Democrats in New Yorks Tammany Hall.

Many of these facilities are set up in places like Florida and Texas, where Republicans are already assured victory statewide and, thanks to vicious gerrymanders, in most congressional districts. But theyre also in places where the party aspires only to shrink the drastic margins by which theyre losing, places like Philadelphia. Performing better with minorities is an existential matter for Republicans, who cannot win popular elections in an increasingly nonwhite country if they dont improve with these groups.

The Robeson County center, the RNCs only outpost in North Carolina, is neither. Republicans flipped long-blue Robeson County to red with Trump on the ticket, but now face a much more onerous task of getting its residents to vote for replacement-level Republicans in off years. Democrats, meanwhile, believed they would win statewide in North Carolina in 2020, in both the presidential election and the Senate, only to come up, in both cases, less than 100,000 votes short; theyre back at it this year to contest for another Senate vacancy.
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The Republican Partys active investment in the region has preyed upon that racial tension, Watson told me, in many cases exacerbating it in an appeal to flip Lumbee voters. Not long ago, both the Black and Lumbee populations were united in voting almost uniformly for Democrats. Now, they have become political opponents. Its a uniquely Republican way of attracting one racial minority group, by pitting them against another.

Add to that the community centers outreach and its promise of free events. As of 2019, median household income in Robeson was less than $35,000, with 28 percent of people below the poverty line. This is a poverty-stricken county, Watson said. Anything free is gonna draw a lot of attention.

When the RNC set up its community center, it picked a location just two blocks from the site of that June confrontation. When you think of this county, the triracial makeup of it, a third being Native American, a third of them being Black, a third being white, this is just an absolute perfect place, said Michael Whatley, chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, at the unveiling. There is not, it should be added, a Black American RNC community center in Robeson, though the Black community has faced similar economic challenges and political abandonment.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party has done little to counter. I just feel like theyve given up on the Democratic voters of Robeson County. You dont see that effort that you used to see, added Watson. Theyre turning Robeson County over to the Republican Party.

Graham told me he was troubled, too, about the tactics hes been hearing to court Lumbee voters. I have some real concerns about some of the things they may be doing, he mentioned. I dont want to say theyre buying peoples votes but theyre trying to entice people. And beyond the free dinners, Sharum stressed how the RNC was building a shared sense of community, a meeting space in a district without many of them. Theres also the social element, she said. The entire family can go. Not just the nuclear family, I mean grandma, grandpa, everyone.
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Too long, didn't read.

If our """"left"""" party is not already doing this, to the point of completely crowding out Republicans, well then they are lost.

From skimming it, sounds like Republicans set up community centers in poor, mostly minority districts and they are offering free amenities (movie nights, holiday parties, gun safety training, etc) and building a sense of common community.

This is causing formerly blue voters to tilt red recently. Now, some people are worried about that and suggesting that Republicans are "buying votes" or "enticing voters" by setting up that community center.

If our """"left"""" party is not already doing this, to the point of completely crowding out Republicans, well then they are lost.

This. Democrats are so inept it's both sad and sickening.

Lol literally pizza parties instead of meaningful benefits, I guess if it worked for corporations it'll work for political parties

The Republican Partys active investment in the region has preyed upon that racial tension, Watson told me, in many cases exacerbating it in an appeal to flip Lumbee voters. Not long ago, both the Black and Lumbee populations were united in voting almost uniformly for Democrats. Now, they have become political opponents. Its a uniquely Republican way of attracting one racial minority group, by pitting them against another.

Yeah the GOP sucks but going "They're doing stuff in the local community to try to win votes" is like "No shit."

This really is a case of "why aren't Dems doing this? Why aren't libertarians doing this?"

Bring your friends movie nights and community activities sounds rad

Lol literally pizza parties instead of meaningful benefits, I guess if it worked for corporations it'll work for political parties

Democrats tend to use the fact that they aren't racist as a selling point and Libertarians are more focused on children than minorities.

I think saying you aren't racist isn't much of a selling point, compared to material benefits.

A community center doesn't sound like much to a NEET internet denizen, easily dismissed as "lol pizza parties", but it at least shows an interest in the well being of the community. If you're in a poor neighborhood and you have some political group establish a quality commons area to bring everyone together, that'll build a sense of camaraderie with that group. It gives families and friends a place to go and stuff to do that doesn't involve getting into trouble. People tend to appreciate that kind of thing.

Pretty big selling point since at the very least they wont try to actively harm you.

You can say that, sure, but if this kind of material political outreach into minority communities continues to be successful, don't be surprised if Republicans start taking more slices out of the traditionally Democratic voter base.

Still will never understand why anyone votes for the party that will actively hurt them and only protects the rich. At least the democrats pretend to care and wont actively try to make our lives worse.

You wouldn't consider setting up community centers in poor minority areas, so that poor families have a place to go to celebrate holidays, enjoy public events and recreational activities (that aren't criminal or destructive) and otherwise bond as a community as pretending to care?

Pretending to care is one thing, but pretending to care and giving free stuff is probably better.

I think saying you aren't racist isn't much of a selling point, compared to material benefits.

A community center doesn't sound like much to a NEET internet denizen, easily dismissed as "lol pizza parties", but it at least shows an interest in the well being of the community. If you're in a poor neighborhood and you have some political group establish a quality commons area to bring everyone together, that'll build a sense of camaraderie with that group. It gives families and friends a place to go and stuff to do that doesn't involve getting into trouble. People tend to appreciate that kind of thing.

Democrats can try to use "we aren't racist" as their selling point, but at a certain point it starts to ring hollow if the other party is actually offering something for the community. You'd think the Democrats would've been all over this kind of political outreach.

Not when they will actively push for and pass shit that will make our lives worse.

Edited my last post.

Can you also edit it to factor in the elevated crime rate as well? Saying that "doesn't involve getting into trouble" sort of implies that going to meetings explicitly spelled out as stoking the fires of racial tensions has nothing to do with the town in question having a bit over three times the state average in property cirme + an increasing yearly rate of crime across the board.

Maybe. I'm going off the excerpt posted by Antifar and I didn't see a mention of crime rates increasing, or how that is connected to the community centers, on it. If you have an excerpt to post that adds context missing from his, post it and I'll take a look.

https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/nc/pembroke/crime

The article in question does not talk about the actual crime rate, but as it also explicitly says that the gatherings are little more than meet-ups for firing up racial tensions acting like they are more is a bit absurd. The article even goes over the fact that NAFTA was far more relevant in changing the area from blue to red, that the events were more "phantom" than real (organizers could not be gotten ahold of, the events themselves were dubious in timing, etc.), and that most of the success of what did happen came at the cost of the Lumbee tribe (hence the increase in crime being soft mentioned in the article).