Minstrelsy Over Substance: The GOP’s Black Voter Problem

Until the GOP stops mocking Black women long enough to listen, it’s not courting voters—it’s chasing applause.

Black Americans are more disillusioned with the Democratic Party than ever. Many hold values that overlap with conservatism—family, faith, self-determination. But leaving the Democratic Party doesn’t automatically mean joining the Republican Party. And as long as the GOP keeps targeting or trivializing Black women, the voters who hold the most political capital in our communities, it will never earn real trust. The latest Jubilee debate, “1 Black Radical vs. 20 Black Conservatives (ft. Amanda Seales),” shows us why.

I follow plenty of Black conservative influencers on Twitter, yet I didn’t recognize a single one of the Jubilee conservative panelists. And after watching the debate, I didn’t find their arguments against Seales’s claims on par with the Black conservatives I’ve heard speak elsewhere. Seales raised big points—Claim #1: reparations are just and necessary; Claim #2: “Black-on-Black crime” is a result of under-investment and over-policing; Claim #3: systemic racism isn’t a theory but lived reality backed by data and history; Claim #4: Black conservatism fails to address the needs of the working class. Yet many of the Black conservatives chose to air their personal grievances about ‘modern Black culture’ rather than engaging her claims on conservative grounds. Most of the Black conservatives I know of don’t even deny the need for reparations to Black American descendants of slavery. The panel was a missed opportunity to show strength, nuance, or seriousness.

And when Republican influencers rushed to amplify the weakest, most unserious soundbites, it only confirmed the old truth: the GOP doesn’t know how to highlight Black voices unless those voices are parroting anti-Black American talking points. Black women in particular carry enormous political capital, and when they see misogynoir and racism rather than respectful dialogue it guarantees they will remain aligned with Democrats or defect as Independents.

Same old story…spectacle over outreach.

The CJ Pearson Example

Take CJ Pearson, GOP Youth Advisory Council Co-Chair. Last week he tweeted about Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who had spoken at an event about why many Black people, though conservative, don’t identify as Republican—because of the party’s perceived racism:

Jasmine “Wig” Crockett: “Most Black people are not Republicans simply because we just is like, y’all racist.” Hey, @JasmineForUS, I’m a Republican, along with many other Black Americans, because unlike you, we actually have a brain!”

This wasn’t an isolated jab. Pearson has built a pattern of mocking Crockett, reducing her to stereotypes instead of addressing her arguments. He’s chosen misogynoiristic cheap shots—mocking her hair and intellect—for claps from a white conservative crowd that the GOP is more interested in appeasing than persuading Black voters. Pure minstrelsy…a performance meant to win laughs at a Black woman’s expense, not to engage the concerns of Black communities. And it proves Crockett’s point more than it rebuts it.

The “Fake Hood” Hypocrisy

Pearson isn’t alone. “Conservative” influencers often refer to Crockett as “fake hood” because she’s educated and doesn’t come from poverty, then in the same breath ridicule her as “dumb,” “ghetto,” or “ratchet”—as if her very Blackness discredits her accomplishments. Which is it?

If the criticism can’t stay focused on what Crockett says or stands for, and instead leans on misogynistic, anti-Black stereotypes, it’s not an argument, but a smear. And it’s exactly what keeps Black Americans skeptical of the Republican Party, no matter how fed up they are with Democrats. Black women, especially, see these double standards for what they are: attempts to delegitimize our voices while pandering to anti-Black, misogynistic Republicans—and too often, it works.

The Jubilee Showcase

The Amanda Seales episode was a live-action replay of the same dynamic. Most of the Black conservatives on stage weren’t interested in engaging Seales’s politics. They were venting grievances at other Black people. Two of the male panelists even went on after the fact to record videos calling her a “diva,” with one declaring: “She was the stereotypical Black woman… she was angry, she was nasty.” In other words, they verbalized the misogynoir already obvious in their body language during the debate.

Same old story…minstrelsy over substance.

And when Republican influencers clipped the weakest lines—hot takes designed to make anti-Black white audiences nod along—they exposed the GOP’s playbook: platform Black faces, not Black perspectives. Celebrate voices that echo Republican frustrations, ignore those who challenge the party to actually deliver for Black communities.

Even panelist John-Samuel’s point—that Black people as a community need to walk away from the Democratic Party—fell flat because there’s nowhere viable to go. And unless the Republican Party suddenly commits to properly and respectfully engaging with Black people (especially Black women, whose votes are decisive), that knowledge will never translate into meaningful growth in GOP numbers.

The Missed Opportunity

Here’s the real shame: both Crockett and Seales are wide open for substantive critique. From Crockett’s reflexive defense of Democratic leadership to Seales’s dismissal of Black conservative voters, there’s fertile ground for debate on policy, representation, and accountability.

But those debates are drowned out when conservatives and Republicans choose misogynoir over substance. When the loudest voices go for cheap applause instead of serious engagement, the GOP isn’t winning converts. It’s proving its critics right. And as long as Black women see themselves belittled with “angry” and “nasty” stereotypes rather than engaged as the political force they are, the GOP will keep bleeding credibility in this area.

The Peachy Point

Black people defecting from the Democratic Party does not mean they’re embracing the GOP. If Republicans are serious about growth, they have to stop rewarding cheap shots and start rewarding substance.

Every time a right-winger mocks Jasmine Crockett’s hair, dismisses Amanda Seales as a “diva,” or reduces a Black woman to stereotypes, they’re not disproving the charge of racism in their ranks. They’re underscoring it.

And that’s why the Republican Party fails to gain the Black voters it claims are leaving the Left—and why Black women in particular will continue to wield their political capital outside the GOP.