World News | Analysis: A Reckoning on Racism? Not for Many Leaders of GOP

New York, Apr 26 (AP) If the nation is in the midst of a historic reckoning on racism, most leaders of the Republican Party are not participating.

On the day last week that a jury convicted the police officer who killed George Floyd, Republicans in Washington focused much of their energy on condemning the longest-serving Black woman in Congress.

In the days since, former President Donald Trump attacked what he called the “racist rants” of basketball icon LeBron James.

And some of Trump's staunchest supporters on Capitol Hill are considering forming a new group that initially planned to champion “ Anglo-Saxon political traditions."

Beyond simple rhetoric, Republican state lawmakers are pushing forward with new voting restrictions that disproportionately affect people of colour and are resisting legislation designed to prevent police brutality.

The moves reflect a stark political reality: As America grows more diverse, the Republican Party continues to be led almost entirely by white people, particularly men, who cater to an overwhelmingly white base.

And despite fierce criticism from civil rights leaders and growing concern from business leaders who are traditional allies, many Republicans see no problem.

“It's unfortunate that more in the Republican Party are not willing to stand up for what I would define as creating a more just and humane system,” Martin Luther King III told The Associated Press.

“It makes you wonder if they really even care.”

Still, the reality of America's modern political coalitions is increasingly complex. While reliable demographic data on voting patterns in last year's election is still emerging, leaders in both parties believe that Trump attracted more support from Latinos — and perhaps Black men — than his more conventional Republican presidential predecessors.

“Republicans are making inroads,” said Ari Fleischer, an aide in George W. Bush's White House.

Fleischer helped author the Republican National Committee 2013 internal report that determined the GOP's survival depended upon adopting more inclusive messaging and policies to attract the growing universe of nonwhite voters.

“Despite Trump's rhetoric and the knock on Trump that he was a racist, he grew the vote among black African Americans, he grew the vote among Hispanic Americans," Fleischer said.

"He did what we called for.”

The continued Republican resistance to African American priorities on voting and policing could threaten any modest progress the party has made with voters of colour. But more than that, the GOP could further alienate the larger swath of suburban voters — many of them white — who have turned sharply away from Trump's party.

Leading Republicans insist that systemic racism doesn't exist is America.

But in a tacit acknowledgment that something needs to change, Republicans picked South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the GOP's only Black senator and one of just three Black Republicans in Congress, to deliver a national response to President Joe Biden's address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.

Overall, 261 Republicans serve in Congress, and fewer than two dozen are people of colour.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Sunday celebrated the handful of nonwhite House freshmen elected last fall — there were nine — in response to former President George W. Bush's recent description of the modern-day GOP as “nativist.”

“This party is expanding to reflect America,” McCarthy said on "Fox News Sunday."

But in the same interview, he was again forced to denounce plans by Trump allies such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., to form an “America First" caucus that planned to promote “uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions,” according to an internal planning document.

After the plans were publicly reported, Greene distanced herself from the the “Anglo Saxon” language and blamed staff.

Look no further for evidence of the GOP's entrenched position than Minnesota, where a jury last week convicted former police officer Derek Chauvin of murder after he was caught on video kneeling on Floyd's neck for more than 9 minutes.

The state, which is an epicenter of the nation's racial reckoning, leans Democratic. Trump lost Minnesota by 7 percentage points in 2020 — having lost by only 2 percentage points four years earlier — even after spending much of the the fall warning suburban voters of violent Black Lives Matter protesters.

But there is little sign of urgency in Minnesota's Republican-controlled state Senate, which so far has resisted new Democrat-backed legislation to address racial justice and police accountability.

Both parties supported a proposal last summer that, among other things, banned police chokeholds.

Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, the state's most powerful elected Republican, refused to commit to the new legislative overhaul in an interview.

“We are looking at it. We've been looking at it. But we're a thorough, deliberative body," he said in an interview.

Meanwhile, the number of people of colour killed by police continues to grow. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)