It’s common practice for conservatives to question liberal policies and their benefits to the African-American community. One half of ESPN’s professional troll troupe Stephen A. Smith just said he wished all of black America would vote Republican for at least one election cycle. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Christian Schneider wrote a piece eviscerating Mayor Paul Soglin on the lip service he paid to race issues in his city following the shooting of Madison teen Tony Robinson while taking stabs at white liberals in general.

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“White liberals often think they have a monopoly on race relations in America, frequently using racial issues to drive wedges in the electorate and bolster their own standing,” Schneider wrote in his column.

I agree with Schneider in the sense white liberals do not have a “monopoly on race relations.” But the reality is that it doesn’t take much to enter the conversation. In my experience, the vast majority of white liberals are out there in these communities listening to the black community, fighting for things that will make it better – like a higher minimum wage or more financial investment in these communities.

There are things such as food stamps or even after-school programs for inner city youths a liberal will wholeheartedly endorse and a conservative might decry. The thing is that those could be the very things someone needs to survive an area such as inner-city Milwaukee.

I get that many conservative politicians need to shore up their bases, but they’re doing it using outright untruths about the very people I’ve lived and went to school with for most of my childhood and adolescence.

The misconception black people are only out for free stuff and enticed by shiny things has been prevalent and damaging over the last 40 to 50 years. Remarkably, this misconception has kept spreading among conservative communities. Primarily it consists of “welfare queen” motif, which has widely been debunked time and time again.

What’s worse is their rhetoric seems to give people the idea that ‘they’re them and we’re us, so we don’t even have to think about what opportunities they may or may not have.’ The truth is black people have legitimate concerns as a voting bloc which a lot of us feel are being both condemned and delegitimized by conservatives.

The only thing that’s going to actually mend the racial divide in this country is for people to admit we have a big problem with race in this country, a problem that hasn’t even begun to be thoroughly dealt with. There’s no such thing as a string of isolated events. The increase in racist incidents coming to light and the shootings of unarmed black men is indicative of a systematic trend, and this revelation is something many on the right do not care to admit.

The conservative consensus seems to be since most black people favor liberals and liberal policies, the failure is on liberal politicians for the state of the black community. I’m not making excuses for these liberal politicians, as I’ve been pretty disappointed in the lack of action I have seen from some of them. But it is tough to make positive change in places like Milwaukee that are poor, predominantly black communities. This is especially the case when you have Republican lawmakers hell-bent on taking away opportunity for people in these areas, leaving  them even more hopeless and destitute.

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If conservatives truly want to engage in a dialogue with the black community and get our votes, they need to stop “othering” us and take the time to acquaint themselves with the real image of black America, not just the one they see and hear on FOX News.

Miles Brown (mjbrown22@wisc.edu) is a senior majoring political science and history with a certificate in Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies.