Presidential contender Rick Perry urged his fellow Republicans on Thursday to work harder to win black votes, saying decades of failed Democratic economic policies had given the party a fresh opportunity to appeal to African-Americans.
Perry, the former governor of Texas, said the Republican Party’s indifference to black voters threatened its moral legitimacy at a time when black voters should be looking to the party for economic help.
The comments by Perry coincided with renewed public debate about race relations in the United States after the murders of nine black worshippers at a South Carolina church.
“For too long, we Republicans have been content to lose the black vote because we found that we could win elections without it,” Perry said during a speech at the National Press Club.
“When we gave up on trying to win the support of African-Americans, we lost our moral legitimacy as the party of Lincoln,” he said. “I am here to tell you that it is Republicans, not Democrats, who are truly offering black Americans the hope of a better life for themselves and their children.”
–Wire Reports via the Columbus Dispatch
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