"There are certain things in life that are just true. Fact: the Earth revolves around the sun. Fact: two times two is four. And fact: Black people aren't Republicans. We just aren't! We vote for Democrats. And it's not just an Obama thing. He could've dropkicked [a] baby and I still would've voted for him!"
—Andre "Dre" Johnson, black•ish
This trope is a Black character that leans to the right politically and often thrown into conflict with other Black characters over their views.
Some historical background: African-Americans voted for the Republican Party since the American Civil War and Reconstruction until the 1930s when they became a reliable voting bloc for the Democratic Party since the Great Depression. This was solidified in The '60s during the Civil Rights Movement, when the Democrats finally added civil rights to their platform and Lyndon B. Johnson, a Democratic president, and Congress passed the Civil and Voting Rights Acts. The fact that many White pro-segregation Democrats from the South, the so-called "Dixiecrats", decided to protest this move by switching to the GOP also greatly contributed to this change. Despite wildly divergent points of view amongst Black Americans, including a strong tradition of social conservatism, those that do vote overwhelmingly vote Democrat. No Democratic nominee for president has gotten less than 82 percent of the Black vote since John F. Kennedy with 68 percent in 1960. As of 2023, there are only five black Republicans in federal elected office, Representative Byron Donalds of Florida, Representative Wesley Hunt of Texas, Representative John James of Michigan, Representative Burgess Owens of Utahnote , and Senator Tim Scott of South Carolinanote . Outside of political office, other notable black Republicans/conservatives include author Thomas Sowell, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, renowned neurosurgeon and Housing Secretary Ben Carson, Secretary of State Condolezza Rice, radio host Larry Elder and football legend Herschel Walker.
So, naturally, whenever a Black character makes his/her conservative views known, this brings a lot of discord, especially with other Black characters. They're often marked as "sellouts", uppity or selfish for not caring about the rights of Black people. Typically, the dissension is resolved in An Aesop about being respectful of one's political leanings and embracing different points of view, though not always, as they can also be used as a Straw Character.
While the shock factor of being Republican isn't as intense when it comes to other racial/ethnic minorities in America, this trope still sometimes comes into play for them as well. Hispanic Americans and Asian-Americans vote overwhelmingly Democrat/liberal, though their Republican vote percentage is higher than that of Black Americans (and Republicans get overwhelming support from some specific ethnic groups in these categories, such as Cuban-Americans and Vietnamese-Americans, who often are or are descended from emigrants/refugees from leftist nations). Jewish Americans also tend to lean left, though some are more conservative especially Orthodox voters.
Related to The Whitest Black Guy and Category Traitor. Can overlap with Boomerang Bigot if the work portrays conservatives as racist or a Black Republican character is likely to be accused of being racist. Compare Straw Affiliation. See also Gay Conservative. Contrast Malcolm Xerox, for the most part.
No Real Life Examples, Please! (This should go without saying, though, being a political trope and all.)
Examples with Black Republicans:
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Comic Books
- Icon is explicitly a Black Republican, in contrast with his liberal partner Rocket. This ended up creating some headaches for Dwayne McDuffie, as Icon developed a Misaimed Fandom among actual Black conservatives like Clarence Thomas who didn't understand that Icon was supposed to be wrong sometimes.
- In Runaways, all three of the minority couples (Geoffrey and Catherine Wilder, Tina and Robert Minoru, and Dale and Stacey Yorkes) in the Pride were conservatives... because they were all hypocrites, preaching a "pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps" ethos when all three couples gained their wealth and power through a deal with the Gibborim.
Comic Strips
- In Candorville, there's a black Strawman Political guy who sits at the same bus stop as Lemont and immediately launches into conservative ranting or conspiracy theories. Lemont tries his best to ignore him, but it's not like that makes him stop talking.
Films — Live-Action
- Bottoms: Annie is black and says some pro-religious and anti-government comments. Josie, who is also black, laments that she might be a black Republican, but Annie is one of the smartest members of the club.
- In Da 5 Bloods, the group is shocked when Paul (Delroy Lindo) says he voted for "President Fake Bone Spurs". He even wears a MAGA cap for most of the movie's second half.
- Tales from the Hood 2: In "The Sacrifice", Black councilman Henry Bradley is a Republican. His mother regards him as a Category Traitor for supporting Republican gubernatorial candidate William Cotton, who is targeting voting locations in predominantly Black districts for closure. Henry himself doesn't like Cotton, but he's banking on getting support for his own political ambitions in exchange for his support now.
- In Long Shot, Lance is revealed to be a Black Republican, forcing Fred to reevaluate some of his own political biases.
- Nurse Betty: Briefly referenced when African-American hitman Charlie describes himself as "conservatives, but flexible".
- The Blackening: When the group discusses who's the blackest among them for a sacrifice, Clifton admits to voting for Trump. Twice. To the absolute disgust of the rest of the group, leading to them voting for him as the sacrifice.
Literature
- The Black "Mother" Abigail Freemantle of Stephen King's The Stand received a thank you letter from Ronald Reagan acknowledging her as the oldest living Republican. Her political identity is largely tied to her powerful religious convictions. An especially notable example, as not only is Abigail black, she's old enough that her parents were freed slaves before she was born.
- Trigger Warning: Pierce, a Black student who's one of the few people on campus Jake becomes friendly with. Pierce is more conservative than most of the other students, and admits to being from a very wealthy family. This puts him at odds with many of his peers, who begin calling him an "Uncle Tom".
Live-Action TV
- 30 Rock:
- This is played for laughs when Jack announces to a group of Republicans that he's dating a Democratic politician, prompting others to stand up and reveal secret things about themselves that are viewed as liberal such as donating to NPR, being gay, or being Black.
- The idea is explored and discussed in an episode where Jack convinces Tracey to become the celebrity face of the Republican party. They eventually come to the conclusion that trying to convince black people to vote Republican is a losing battle, and decide to shoot an ad in which Tracey tries to convince black Americans to just not vote (paid for by the Committee to Re-Invade Vietnam).
- One episode features a political ad with Don Cheadle and Jazz, the "black Transformer" endorsing Mitt Romney over Barack Obama in the 2012 US presidential election. Cheadle is visibly nauseated over his lines, and straight up says he's only doing it because he was paid $10,000,000.
- George Jefferson ran for public office as a Republican while on All in the Family. Archie was confused because George "didn't look like a Republican", but he later signs his petition in exchange for a 15% discount on dry cleaning. George reneges on the deal after getting enough signatures, but Archie finds out the real reason why George is running - to repeal a zoning law that prevented him from expanding his business.
- Arrested Development:
- Season four introduces Herbert Love, a rich, smooth-talking ultra-conservative African-American politician.
- Subverted when George Sr. spends several minutes talking to a man he believes to be a Republican Party strategist, because he is black, wears a nice suit, and is found at a Republican Party fundraiser. The man is a waiter.
- black•ish:
- An episode deals with Junior joining the Republican Club at school, leaving his family in complete disbelief. They later find out he only joined because of a girl he liked was in the same club, but were terrified that she may influence his views. Andre and Bow later meet the girl's parents, and the meeting goes disastrously. They later realize that they need to encourage their kids to consider other points of view, but then are relieved when Junior says he's a Democrat again — only because Zoey introduced him to another girl in the Democrat Club.
- The phenomenon is also Played for Laughs with Dre's mom Ruby. She identifies as a Democrat and votes accordingly, but most of her viewpoints actually align with the Republican Party's principles, such as wondering why there wasn't a wall bordering Mexico built yet, and even unironically quoting Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan.
- The last season of Boston Public had Black teacher Marilyn Sudor reveal that she was not only Republican, but against affirmative action
, after a white student protested publicly against it (which, it turns out, was for a petty reason, a Black student was admitted into Harvard with a GPA a tenth of a point lower than his, and the white student had already been admitted into Yale). The principal (and her boyfriend) Steven Harper and especially teacher Marla Hendricks aren't sympathetic (Marla basically calls her a traitor), but during a debate, she explains her point of view concisely, bringing more understanding. She also reveals that despite being Republican, she's for a three-day waiting period for gun purchases, against the death penalty, and regarding prayer in schools, she says "I'm a Republican, not Pat Robertson."
- The Colbert Report had a recurring character of Black Republican P.K. Winsome, who was played by Tim Meadows.
- The series Dear White People features a side character named Rikki Barnes, a Black Republican pundit in the vein of real-life Black conservative pundit Candace Owens. Bonus points for the Casting Gag of her being played by Tessa Thompson, who played the main character Sam (whose political views are the polar opposite) in the film. This is then subverted as Rikki reveals to Sam that she doesn't really believe these things; she's only in it for the money and notoriety.
- The Banks family from the The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air are well-off Republicans. This contrasted with Will Smith's more liberal common-man beliefs based on Malcolm X.
- Girls: In Season 2, the liberal Hannah ends up in a brief relationship with Sandy (Donald Glover), who is not only Republican but also a Token Minority, which meant that he was contrasted with the liberal white people, especially Hannah.
- William Dent in Girlfriends is one; and is portrayed as somewhat of a mama's boy and Black and Nerdy. It comes to a head when he and Joan get into an argument about him not having her back during a case discussion despite them being the only two black attorneys at the firm.
- Played for Laughs in The Good Fight, where the main law firm is almost entirely made up of Black employees, and the few white employees are all also extremely liberal. In one episode, when asked if they're "politically diverse," they realize they don't actually know if any of their employees voted for Donald Trump — nor do they know any other Black people who did, for that matter. For the sake of having a Republican lawyer to show to potential clients, they ask around and find one attorney who did. The attorney in question, Julius, is Black and doesn't want to admit he voted for Trump because he knows most of his coworkers would give him hell for it. (When it does get out, it's mostly restricted to "what the hell were you thinking?" comments.) To his credit, he tries not to let his politics interfere with his job, even though many of the firm's clients have views that diametrically oppose his, and he's not a bigot. He also later admits that, while he's still a proud conservative, he's grown disillusioned with Trump.
- A recurring sketch from Key & Peele deals with Black Republicans, whose meetings mostly consist of them complaining to each other about how they are pissed (royally pissed!) that most African-Americans vote Democratic and insisting that Black Republicans are actually quite diverse and "NOT a monolith", despite their appearances and personalities being almost cookie-cutter in style.
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has Fin Tutuola, a registered Republican who oftentimes got into it with Detective John Munch, a Jewish liberal. Over the course of the show, they became good friends.
- In Mrs. America, which explores the Women's Liberation movement from the perspectives of both the feminist and the conservative counter-movement fighting for and against the Equal Rights Amendment. Within the feminist movement, there are several Republican feminists (at that point, both Presidents Nixon and Ford supported passing the amendment), one of which is Audrey Howe Colom, who is a real-life figure in the Republican party in the mid-1970s and the Civil Rights Movement. She, along with the white Republican Jill Ruckelshaus, are both working in President Carter's commission on women's issues with white (and one Latina) Democrats and Progressive Bella Abzug, Gloria Steinem, Midge Constanza, and Carmen Votaw. It's joked about in the fourth episode of the mini-series where Audrey joked that her parents were so disappointed when she told them her party affiliation, to good-natured chuckles.
- A sketch on Saturday Night Live titled "The Negro Republican", featuring Eddie Murphy as the title character.
- We Are Who We Are: Caitlin's dad supports Donald Trump, even ordering MAGA hats that the two can wear (however, it doesn't fit over Caitlin's hair).
Theatre
- The Great White Hope: It's 1910 and various authorities in Chicago are casting about for an excuse to arrest Jack Jefferson, who is a black heavyweight boxing champion (in the eyes of 1910 racists, bad) who is also dating a white woman (for the racists, worse). A character identified only as "A Distinguished Negro" meets with the Chicago DA, and others and collaborates with them, saying of Jefferson that "the majority of Negroes do not approve of this man or his doings. He personifies all that should be suppressed by law, and I trust that such suppression is forthcoming." This is Booker T. Washington, who said very similar things about Jack Johnson in Real Life.
Video Games
Web Original
Western Animation
- Uncle Ruckus from The Boondocks is this trope intentionally taken to absurd extremes and played for satire. Ruckus is both a black man and an incredibly loyal supporter of the Republican Party. The majority of his screentime is spent expressing his extremely reactionary and prejudiced beliefs, disparaging everyone who aren't (straight) white people. He has a particular hatred of other black people, to the point that being a Boomerang Bigot is his primary character trait.
- Daria: The Landons, Jodie's family, is one of the only Black families in the city, and they're actually much more conservative than the Caucasian Morgendorffers. This is used on a gag in "Gifted" when they're talking with each other and Helen assumes Michelle would agree with her support for welfare, and she turns out to be against it. Jodie's own politics, however, are more ambiguous.
- The Simpsons: The Springfield Republican Party are a group representing various stereotypical archetypes of Republicans, with Julius Hibbert representing the Black Republican.
Examples of other Republican racial/ethnic minorities
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Literature
- The Kite Runner: Having fled Soviet-occupied Afghanistan, as well as having been pretty wealthy before immigrating to America, Amir's father becomes an openly proud Republican, with Amir noting that his father did so despite Reagan's policies not being so great for most other Afghan immigrants.
Live-Action TV
- From Dear White People, there's Silvio, a Latino Gay Conservative who turns out to also be an alt-right troll.
- grown•ish has Ana, a Latina conservative. She credits her Cuban upbringing for informing her views, and she only really comes into conflict with Aaron, a militant upperclassman all about uplifting other Black people. She did support Barack Obama, however.
Video Games
- Andrew Ryan of BioShock holds strongly anti-New Deal opinions and is opposed to any government regulation; he's a Jewish refugee fleeing from Soviet Russia. Bioshock Rapture expands on this; his original name was Andrei Ryanovski, and his extreme convervatism has it's roots in seeing his aunt and uncle being murdered by the Red Army when the family fled Russia.
Western Animation
- The Simpsons: One episode has Lisa befriending a Latina and being shocked she is a Republican. And not the Lincoln or Bush kind. Despite that, the two are willing to look past it, both believing the other will grow out of it and stay friends. Until the Springfield Republican Party gets involved.
