What was Rand Paul, a white Republican senator from Kentucky, doing at Howard University, a mostly black campus in Washington DC? Asking black Americans to give conservatism a second look.

Paul acknowledged that some people thought he was crazy to speak to a largely democratic group, who were probably part of the 93% of blacks who re-elected President Barack Obama in 2012. He joked:

“My response is that my trip will be a success if the Hilltop [the campus newspaper] will simply print that a Republican came to Howard, but he came in peace.”

 

The rest of his speech wasn’t a joke. It was a bold move for a party looking to re-connect with minorities. Founded in 1867, Howard University was one of the few schools where blacks could receive degrees after the Civil War ended. The school also played an integral part of the Civil Rights movement, and its student population remains predominately black today.

At the beginning of his remarks, Paul exhibited grace and humor when two students carrying a sign saying “Howard University doesn’t support white supremacy” stormed the front of the auditorium. He said he wasn’t sure the speech was going to be entertaining, but now it was. Paul told the students he didn’t come to “preach” or “prescribe” a political point of view, but to ask each of them to write their own story in life and perhaps make conservatism a part of it. In other words: develop their own views of him, the Republican Party and their own political beliefs.

Few young minorities know the history of the Republican Party “chock full of emancipation and black history”. He talked about his passion for ending mandatory minimum federal sentencing for non-violent possession of drugs because they ruin the lives of kids who just make bad decisions. It was one of the most heavily tweeted and applauded lines of his speech.

Paul tackled some 30 minutes of tough questioning ranging from Malcolm X to the Environmental Protection Agency. When asked by a former Obama intern how he felt about voter ID laws, Paul said he didn’t think it was a burden for people to show a driver’s license to maintain the integrity of the polls, but didn’t approve of 100-page literacy tests Democrats forced blacks to take during reconstruction to suppress their vote.

To put this in context: many white Republicans would have given their speech, refused questions and run for the hills. George W Bush famously rejected an invite to speak at Howard in 2000. But Paul faced this tough crowd. A student told asked him to clarify his comments about the 1964 Civil Rights Act during his 2010 campaign in which he seemed to imply he wasn’t supportive of the act. “I have never questioned the Civil Rights Act,” he said, but he questioned if the law’s application now requiring restaurants to ban smoking and provide standardized menus with food calorie counts.

Most striking was Paul’s response to a question from a young man who said he “wanted a government that helps him and pays for his school”. Paul used this opportunity to emphasize his belief of the hazard of government over-reach. Paul warned the student that when government spends money it doesn’t have and sells our debt to China, this limits school loans and creates an economy where people can’t get jobs when they become college graduates.

Going backwards in time, Paul reminded the crowd the GOP has always been the party of civil rights and voting rights, but also the party of limited government. “When some people hear that, they tune us out and say: he’s just using code words for the state’s right to discriminate, for the state’s right to segregate and abuse. But that’s simply not true.” Paul used the 14th amendment guaranteeing all Americans citizenship and equal rights regardless of race as an example of such egregious injustice that requires federal involvement.

Paul asked a hushed audience:

“How did the party that elected the first black US Senator, the party that elected the first 20 African-American congressmen become a party that now loses 95% of the black vote?”

 

He said after the Great Depression and Civil Rights Act, blacks wanted “economic emancipation” and began voting Democrat because Democrats promised “unlimited federal assistance”. He added: Republicans offered something that seemed less tangible-the promise of equalizing opportunity through free markets. After nearly 50 years of Democrat policies, Paul argued the evidence shows that big government is not a friend to African Americans. He pointed to persistent high unemployment among blacks, presently 13.3%, nearly twice the national average, blacks trapped in failing schools and their declining wealth.

Before the speech, I asked a young man, who was a sophomore, why he was there. He said to listen but he didn’t feel Paul “was in his best interests”. He never articulated what those interests were, but when I asked him when was the last time President Obama had spoken on campus since he became a student, he replied: never. Obama hasn’t spoken to Howard students since 2007, when he was campaigning for the Democrat nomination and Hillary was leading in the polls among black Americans. Howard students should ask themselves who’s showing up and asking for their vote, and who’s assuming they have it.

“Maybe it’s about time we all reassess blind allegiance to ideas that are failing our children,” said Paul. While the senator was referencing America’s education system and the benefits of school choice, I think that was the theme of his speech. “As Toni Morrison said, ‘write your own story. Challenge mainstream thought,’” concluded Paul.

By just showing up, Paul challenged blacks to give the Republican party a chance. While the RNC keeps pouring over plans and navel gazing about how to win minority votes in 2016, people like Rand Paul are showing up. It’s really that simple.