Eastside Republican Club names first black chair

From her formative years Rozalyn Strong was always involved in politics. Her mother was a prominent Republican organizer and later an elected official in Georgia. Strong spent her youth on campaign trails and fundraisers. So, it should come as no surprise that she has followed in her mother’s footsteps. But Strong has blazed her trail thousands of miles from her Georgia home. She was recently elected the first black chair of the Eastside Republican Party, a local group with more than 600 members that encourages Republicans to become involved in the political process. She will share duties with her fellow co-chair, Kristi Brown.

By Nat Levy • May 5, 2011 2:34 pm
Rozalyn Strong was nominated by Rev. Wayne Perryman to become the co-chair of the Eastside Republican Club. She is the first black chair of the club.
Rozalyn Strong was nominated by Rev. Wayne Perryman to become the co-chair of the Eastside Republican Club. She is the first black chair of the club.

From her formative years Rozalyn Strong was always involved in politics.

Her mother was a prominent Republican organizer and later an elected official in Georgia. Strong spent her youth on campaign trails and fundraisers. So, it should come as no surprise that she has followed in her mother’s footsteps.

But Strong has blazed her trail thousands of miles from her Georgia home. She was recently elected the first black chair of the Eastside Republican Club, a local group with more than 600 members that encourages Republicans to become involved in the political process. She will share duties with her fellow co-chair, Kristi Brown.

More involvement

Strong wants to see the black community become more politically motivated.

“I believe that blacks need to be involved in both parties, and that’s where we falter a bit,” she said.

Between 1865, when slavery was legally abolished, and the 1930s, black people favored the Republican Party.

That changed with FDR. According to factcheck.org, a University of Pennsylvania-based non-partisan project,  Roosevelt earned more than 70 percent of the black vote in 1936 even though many still referred to themselves as Republicans. Republican presidential nominees retained between 30 and 40 percent of the black vote up until Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, and the Voting Rights Act the next year.

Since that time, according to Fact Check, no Republican candidate has earned more than 15 percent of the black vote.

Strong said the Republican Party has done a poor job of reaching out to, and involving, black people historically to get their confidence back. She said her mother wasn’t used as well as she could have been in Georgia.

“There’s been a lack of education for what the Republican Party has done in the black community,” Strong said.

As an example, she pointed to the decision to make Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a national holiday, which was done by the Reagan administration.

A welcoming club

Strong, who works as a school teacher in Redmond, is excited by how smoothly the dialog flows at the club. While she doesn’t forget about her race, it’s not a factor among the group.

“Once you’re in the mix and all have the same ideas you forget about color,” Strong said.

Strong rose to the head of the group after she was nominated by a board member, Rev. Wayne Perryman, a Mercer Island resident. Perryman has written several books on the subject of the black community’s relationship to the Democratic Party. Perryman was a Democratic-leaning independent until his social beliefs were challenged by members of his church.

Perryman said he believes the majority of black people carry Christian values into politics, specifically social issues. They don’t agree with gay marriage, and they don’t approve of abortions, he said. But they still lean toward Democrats because of the public allegiance by prominent black figures.

Strong hopes to spread the word that the Republican Party needs more black involvement. She said her appointment came at this time because people want to have minorities in high positions. On the Eastside, the population of black people appears lower than average. Perryman said that there are more black Eastsiders than people think. The Republican club is diverse, with a few black members, but those involved are clearly excited about bringing in more people of different backgrounds.

“The nice things is, their arms are open,” he said. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t be on the board, and she wouldn’t be co-chair. They just like what we bring to the table.”