I don't scratch my head unless it itches and I don't dance unless I hear some music. I will not be intimidated. That's just the way it is.

It's always bothered me that African-Americans who choose to be Republicans are often regarded as "sell outs" or "Uncle Toms." I remember vividly a conversation where I had expressed admiration of J.C. Watts, but was told he wasn't "really black," because he was Republican.

In addition to such criticism being patently unfair, I think it overlooks a key historical fact, namely that the Democratic party has historically been the anti-black people party, and some would argue, still is. That is, of course, why the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other African-Americans were Republican.

I've wanted to write on this topic for a while, but came across an article that puts together the facts in a way on which I need not try to improve.

For your reading pleasure, Why Martin Luther King was Republican, by Frances Rice.

P.S. I'm not so much criticizing African-Americans who choose to be Democrats, unless they do so blindly, but I am trying to defend the Republican party as a legitimate option (cf. Hip Hop Republicans), which in no way amounts to ethnic treason.