House negro: Why J.C. Watts is Congress' last black Republican.

• Author: Coates, Ta-Nehisi
• Position: Book Review

J.C. WATTS'S MEMOIR, What Color is a Conservative?, should be a primary text for Republicans dumbfounded by black America's loyalty to the Democratic Party. Perhaps more than any other book in recent memory, Color effectively demonstrates why African ,Americans recoil in horror when "Republican" is preceded by the adjective "black." By no means should this revelation be attributed to Watts, however. Naive and obtuse, Color is a failed memoir that bears all the markings of Watts's press office. But in its lack of candor, in its total inability to grapple with complexity, Color unwittingly demonstrates why African Americans view Republicans with such disdain, and why, after Watts retires this year, there will not be a single black Republican in Congress.

By now, Watts's story has been well trafficked through Washington's hoary corridors. Watts hails from Eufala, Okla. His father was a lifelong Democrat, with conservative leanings (pro-life, anti-welfare). He was stern, religious, and packed a pistol in his glove compartment. Watts was, of course, poor, but because his family embraced traditional values (hard work, community, church), they barely knew it.

Somewhat of a hellion, Watts was held in check by his tight-knit community and his father's penchant for corporal punishment. In high school and college, he excelled at athletics, rising to national fame as an all-American quarterback at the University of Oklahoma, where he won a national championship, went on to a career in the Canadian Football League, and became locally famous enough to run for Congress. Some years later, after hearing Senate candidate Don Nickles speak, he defied his father and became a Republican. It wasn't that much of a leap. He had been a conservative all along and was a Democrat only by inheritance. In 1994, Watts rode the Gingrich wave into office--the only one of 23 black Republicans running that year to win a congressional election--and brought his inspirational story to bitter, partisan Washington. Oh yeah, along the way, Watts had a few run-ins because he happened to be black.

And to Watts, that's all they are, minor run-ins without any systemic element. To his credit, he does not deny being the target of prejudice. But beyond this admission, he has almost nothing else to say on the subject--even though he gives himself plenty of chances. There are the whites who repeatedly question whether Watts, as a black man, can really play quarterback, invoking the common...