Frederica Freyberg:
In the 2020 election, Donald Trump received just 7% of the Black vote nationwide, which is comparable to what Republican presidential candidates have received dating back to the passage of the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s. But Republicans in Wisconsin think that’s going to change this fall. “Here & Now” senior political reporter Zac Schultz has this story about the GOP’s Black voter outreach program in Milwaukee.

Zac Schultz:
There are 50,000 visitors in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention. But around the secure perimeter, it’s a sea of white, save for people working security or selling Trump merchandise. Inside the Fiserv, the GOP delegates are overwhelmingly white, but Republicans like Bob Spindell say Black voters look back at the first Trump presidency with fondness.

Bob Spindell:
Well, I’ll tell you I’ve been involved in the Black community and I noticed during his time people were happy.

Gerard Randall:
Well, we’re going to have a big splash this election cycle so get ready.

Zac Schultz:
Gerard Randall is first vice chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

Gerard Randall:
Well, good afternoon everyone and welcome.

Zac Schultz:
He hosted an event Tuesday at the GOP’s Black Community Center just a few blocks north of the convention, where pictures of Donald Trump and Ronald Reagan hang next to Martin Luther King, Jr. and Abraham Lincoln.

Gerard Randall:
We’re really excited for this opportunity to showcase a couple of our really outstanding efforts to extend outreach into the African-American community here in Milwaukee.

Zac Schultz:
The headliner of the event was South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, who is promoting the “Opportunity Zones” created in Milwaukee, designed to bring investment to the area.

Tim Scott:
The goal isn’t simply to lift African-Americans out of poverty. The goal is to lift all of Americans out of poverty who are living in poverty. It just so happens that disproportionately African-Americans live in poverty more so than any other demographic in this country.

David Crowley:
I mean, they’re there. They just want to be able to show a presence. It’s not like they’re doing a lot in the entire community.

Zac Schultz:
David Crowley is the Milwaukee County executive and a Democrat. He says the GOP putting a building with a billboard in a Black neighborhood isn’t enough to win Black votes.

David Crowley:
Sometimes folks don’t know how to actually address, you know, Black folks. And we’ve seen, you know, a glad Senator Tim Scott was in a Black neighborhood. But let’s face it, one of the first things he said on the convention floor was that racism doesn’t exist. And whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican and happen to be Black living in one of the most segregated communities in the United States like Milwaukee County, then you have to go, “Uhhh, not quite. Not so fast.”

Zac Schultz:
The Black Conservative Federation held a barbecue later that evening, hoping to draw in and engage potential voters. Turnout was low, but the Reverend Harold Turner showed up, saying he was willing to listen.

Harold Turner:
I always believe that it’s important to know where you come from, and then you possibly can go forward. You need to know your opponents as well. So if the Republican is an opponent, we need to know if a Democrat is doing a lot for us. We need to know that too, and we should hold them accountable to address some of the real needs that we are in diehard of the Black community.

Zac Schultz:
Aside from being an alternate delegate, Bob Spindell is also a Republican appointee to the Wisconsin Elections Commission. After the 2022 election, he sent out an email praising lower turnout in Black neighborhoods in Milwaukee saying, “We can be especially proud of the city of Milwaukee casting 37,000 less votes than cast in the 2018 election, with the major reduction happening in the overwhelmingly Black and Hispanic areas.” Spindell says getting Black people to not vote for Democrats was the first step to voting for Republicans.

Bob Spindell:
Take a look at what the Dems have done for the community over the last 50 years. Nothing has changed. Very little has changed from what the Democrats have been doing.

Zac Schultz:
Democrats called it more evidence of voter suppression.

Gerard Randall:
There was no effort on the part of the Republican Party either nationally, locally or statewide to depress the African-American vote. Voters may have stayed home on their own volition because, frankly, the message just wasn’t resonating with them.

Zac Schultz:
Randall says the proof will come this November, when he says Trump will double his support among Black voters in Wisconsin.

Gerard Randall:
We are going to get better than 15% of the African-American vote statewide here for President Trump.

David Crowley:
I don’t know where he’s getting those numbers from.

Zac Schultz:
Crowley says the RNC will be old news by November, and Black voters remember which party supports their community.

David Crowley:
It’s about investments. You can be here all you want and say, “I support you,” but I tell people all the time, it’s not about being an ally. You know, we needed an accomplice. I need you to be right next to me, with me going down and fighting for the things that directly affect not just me, but affects my family as well.