Sergey Kadinsky
Written Works
Black Republican Ponders Future
November 20, 2008
This profile piece was published in the New York Amsterdam News.
The City College of New York is a tiny detail within president-elect Barack Obama’s obscure experience as a student in New York. For three months in 1984, Obama practiced community organizing on the campus of City College in Harlem. Exactly two decades later, a man with a similar description walked the college’s halls. Claudio Simpkins is biracial, charismatic, award winning, and optimistic about black candidates in national politics… He also happens to be a Republican.
“All too often, I am challenged by peers and friends on how I am really committed to the community,” Simpkins writes in the Daily Voice, an African-American news blog. By community, Simpkins, 24, refers to “Blackness,” and the perceived sense of unity in the fact, that for almost half a century, African-Americans have given close to 90 percent of their votes to the Democrats. In contrast, Simpkins argues that the one-party voting pattern may actually hurt the community.
“The political homogeneity of Black America serves the purposes of racism by ostracizing independent-minded blacks from the community and by seeking to silence their voices altogether,” Simpkins writes.
Simpkins’ shares many superficial similarities to Obama. He was raised in North Carolina in a poor family, half-African American and Puerto Rican. In his teen years, he settled in Ridgewood, Queens, affiliating with socialists. His 180-degree transformation happened when he noticed that many of the campus socialists he met were white, privileged, and attending private colleges.
Simpkins was accepted into the free-tuition CUNY Honors College, studying philosophy and political science at City College. He spent his time wisely building a reputation of political independence. Long after his coming out as a conservative, Simpkins studied abroad in Cuba, and worked at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, where he first became aware of Obama.
Being a Truman Scholar and a Jeanette K. Watson Fellow, Simpkins’ story of academic success has drawn a familiar comparison. “I've been hearing about the parallels between my own personal story and that of Obama,” said Simpkins. “For me it's a privilege.”
Simpkins’ former classmate Grace L. Williams, 30, took note of Simpkins’ potential. “He has the natural born star factor and the charisma that potential leaders possess,” said Williams.
With an unpopular war going on in Iraq, the campus scene sometimes grew quite heated, as leftist groups openly confronted military recruiters. In contrast, Simpkins avoided conformation, saving his voice for the undergraduate student government, where he served as executive vice president. “He could argue and continue to argue,” said Williams. “But he remained poised and eloquent while some unraveled.”
In spite of his heavy course load as a third-year student at Harvard Law, Simpkins remains politically active, giving interviews, and campaigning for former Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele, in his race to become head of the Republican National Committee.
“Steele makes sense as the next Chair because of his forward-looking mindset,” said Simpkins. “He knows the importance of broadening our coalition and is not the typical lock-step Black Republican.”
I regards to higher ambitions, Simpkins considers former secretary of state (and fellow CCNY alum) Colin Powell as the party’s greatest chance at a black president.
“The difference lies in the ability of the particular candidate to be independent of the party when it counts, and to prove loyal to the Black community where it's most important,” said Simpkins. Powell proved this example in bucking his party by endorsing Obama in the closing weeks of the election.
As for his own political ambitions, Simpkins expressed caution. “Running for elected office is something you do because you have something to offer, not because you think you can win,” said Simpkins. “If there are issues in my community that I can help solve by running for office, I may be open to it.”
So what’s a soon-to-graduate law student to do? If Obama is an indicator, start modest. “For me, the immediate goal is to help where I can make the most impact: in my church, through local community organizations, mentoring younger folks, and learning to listen to the concerns of those around me,” said Simpkins.
Upon graduating Obama’s alma mater in June 2009, Simpkins will return to New York and pay his bills by working in a large litigation firm.