Stop the Double Standard

The protesters alleged an official event intended to highlight the new Trump Accounts became a political rally, and thus, an inappropriate use of a taxpayer-funded public school.

That’s a credible complaint, even if it’s silly to suggest the school board should have interrogated the White House about every potential line of messaging that might come from the podium. But those who spoke up revealed the true purpose: the desire to silence political opponents.

One 18-year-old Wheeler graduate said she felt “unheard” because the district allowed the conservative president to speak at a school with a diverse student body. Exposing Black students to views they may not like disrespects them, she suggested. Others said Trump’s opposition to DEI policies is offensive to minority students.

It’s an ironic example of liberals using their First Amendment rights to denounce the “platforming” of free speech they find “problematic” (quote marks inserted to highlight words used by liberals when rationalizing censorship of certain views). Further irony: Those who praise diversity as an American strength routinely portray it as a source of human fragility and societal instability.

Photo credit: WFlore

I unexpectedly became a Cancel Culture target this summer, too, after I attacked Keisha Lance Bottoms’ record on a podcast attached to a prominent Black radio station. (I’m an adviser to the Rick Jackson campaign for governor.) One post on Instagram attacked V103 for having on a “PAID WHITE REPUBLICAN” and the same poster also said, “These are the kinds of games and infiltration we’re dealing with in this governor’s race.” That post got tens of thousands of views, 2,500 likes and more than 900 comments. Not mentioned is the fact that for more than a decade I’ve regularly accepted invites from Black media or audiences to provide a Republican point of view because I genuinely believe such dialogue brings people together.

Around the same time, gubernatorial Republican nominee Rick Jackson stopped at Toast on Lenox, a Black-owned restaurant in Buckhead. After the Jackson campaign posted a photo with one of the owners – a standard practice in politics – an online Democratic mob began calls to boycott the establishment. The restaurant had to publicly state that welcoming a candidate isn’t an endorsement. Bottoms released a video suggesting the owner should have known what was coming.

Those who praise diversity as an American strength routinely portray it as a source of human fragility and societal instability.

To those who think it’s fine, I ask, what if an online Republican mob attacked a White owner of a rural barbecue restaurant for allowing Bottoms to dine there, greet other patrons and – heaven forbid! – take a picture with her? It would make national news, with political talking heads bashing Georgians as backward and racist.

What unites these stories, though, isn’t the double standard. The underlying message from progressive activists is as clear as it is desperate: If you open your doors or your airwaves to a Republican, we will destroy you.

This kind of political panic doesn’t come from a position of strength. It comes from profound political insecurity. For generations, the Democratic Party assumed that Black voters were a permanent, monolithic component of their base. But when a Republican sits down for an interview on a Black radio station or breaks bread at a popular local establishment, that comfortable assumption crumbles.

Democrats detest Republicans campaigning for Black votes because they don’t want to compete for votes they’ve taken for granted. Black voters have long held diverse views, but Democrats kept them in the fold by casting Republicans as threats to civil and voting rights. That scare tactic no longer works because it doesn’t reflect the lived experience of today’s Black Americans, who now are among the most moderate and pragmatic voters in the Democratic coalition.

The rapid growth of Black middle- and upper-income households over the last generation, especially in Georgia, has changed perspectives, and it’s natural for that to lead to some partisan realignment. I’ve seen signs that read “Black Voters Matter,” but they’re wielded by partisans who really believe “Black Voters Matter So Long As They Vote Democrat.”

When businesses compete, it benefits consumers. The same applies in politics. When parties compete for Black voters, it amplifies their voices in the political process. It’s appropriate to question the motives of those who want to obstruct the competition. 

Brian Robinson owns communications consulting firm Robinson Republic.