Republicans showing their true color…a reprise

Every day – EVERY – day the news of our country’s slide backward into the would-be white, nationalist country of the late nineteenth century overwhelms the mind and heart. Added to that, the daily news of the overt corruption of the current government in Washington profiting from Maga Republican moral arrhythmia threatens us all with social cardiac arrest.

One of the most prophetic voices crying out in our current wilderness, is the Rev. Dr. Marvin McMickle, Ph.D. He is also an admired colleague.

Just some days ago Marvin’s column in The Real Deal Press clearly describes one of the great dangers of our time. Christian Nationalists advancing racist legislation and voter restriction, are threatening – and many states accomplishing – the destruction of American Democracy.

McMickle’s editorial, “Republicans showing their true color” clearly puts forward what is happening and what is at stake. No one could articulate this present crisis more clearly.

So, I asked Marvin for his permission, which he readily granted, to reprint his clarion call in my blog space. We must become, in the words of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., part of the “bi-racial army storming the battlements of injustice.” Being fully awake and aware of the war of racial discrimination being waged enables us to join the battle against it.

Republicans showing their true color

From Pulpit to Public Square

Marvin A. McMickle, Ph.D.

May 15, 2026

Why would anyone in Ohio who believes in voting rights cast their vote for any Republican at the state or national level who has either remained silent while the U.S. Supreme Court destroys the Voting Rights Act or is considering redrawing congressional lines here in Ohio?

Why would anyone vote for Jon Husted if he is silent about the destructive effects of the undermining of the voting rights of millions of Americans?

Why are people not demanding that Bernie Moreno speak up and commit himself to working for the preservation of voting rights for all Americans?

Why would anyone donate even $1 to any Republican candidate who is unwilling to stand up and speak out about the historic importance of the Voting Rights Act?

As Thomas Paine said in Common Sense, written in the 18th century, “these are the times that try men’s soul”…these are not the times for sunshine patriots and summer soldiers.”

Make no mistake about it: voting rights for black Americans are under threat from white nationalists inside and outside the various branches of government who would like nothing better than to see black elected officials removed through gerrymandering their districts, and to see black voting power diluted by breaking up predominantly black districts so that they are not able to elect representatives who reflect their values and experiences.

No one should be under the illusion that eliminating black voting districts will only happen in states like Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and the other states of the former Confederacy. In a state like Ohio where Republicans control the legislature where congressional lines are drawn, we would be foolish and naive to believe that the seats now held by Emily Sykes in Akron, Shontel Brown in Cleveland, and Joyce Beatty in Columbus are safe.

It would be encouraging to hear Gov. Mike DeWine announce that he would not support any attempts by the state legislature to erase black-held voting districts in Ohio. It should be demanded that every gubernatorial candidate for the next cycle take a similar position. The United States declared its independence from Great Britain in 1776 largely on the claim that they were victims of “taxation without representation.” Now, as this nation is about to celebrate its 250th anniversary as a democratic nation, many of our political leaders seem to have no hesitation in thrusting black voters into that exact position.

I had hoped that the battle for black voting rights had been resolved in 1965 with the passage of the Voting Rights Act. That is when true democracy BEGAN in this country. It now seems obvious that many white Americans, and especially in the Republican Party never fully embraced that idea. Consider the speed at which various Republican-controlled state legislatures are ignoring the traditional practice of redrawing congressional districts every ten years as part of the national census. That should be 2030. Now, they are embracing the demand from Donald Trump that these lines be drawn ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

This is all being done so Republicans can retain control of both houses of our federal government and so Donald Trump can continue his assault on all democratic norms and values.

Maya Angelou famously said, “when someone tells you who they are, believe them the first time.” The Republican Party at the national and state level are telling us who they are: hostile to black voting districts and black voters. It is important that we believe what they are saying. I hope their plan will backfire and average American voters will vote out of office any elected representatives who worked against democracy by disenfranchising millions of black voters. 

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The Rev. Dr. Marvin A. McMickle is pastor emeritus of Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio. He also served as president of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, Rochester, New York, from 2011 to 2019.