At an evangelical church in a largely African-American section of Brooklyn, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus took a first step to repair his party’s relationship with Brooklyn’s black population on Monday. He met with twenty black Republican activists in the 29,000-member Christian Cultural Center in East New York, one of a series of “listening sessions” the party is conducting nationwide. But as BuzzFeed learned in a brief spot-poll of half a dozen shoppers in a strip mall across the street, the damage runs deep.
“They all complained, unprompted, that Republicans only cared about rich people. None of them had heard of Reince Priebus — but they had all heard of Mitt Romney.” Moments such as the 47 percent gaffe had largely defined the candidate in the neighborhood, and Priebus is well aware. “I would say that Gov. Romney’s unscripted moments weren’t helpful,” he told reporters. Seeing as how he’s just getting started with the damage control here, that is one big understatement.
