School choice and the black vote

There are plenty of black voters, Thomas Sowell points out today ('How Republicans Can Win the Black Vote'), who share Republicans' values and concerns.

They want their children to get a decent education, which they are unlikely to get so long as public schools are a monopoly run for the benefit of the teachers’ unions, instead of for the education of the children. Democrats are totally in hock to the teachers’ unions, which means that Republicans have a golden opportunity to go after the votes of black parents by connecting the dots and exposing one of the key reasons for bad education in inner cities and the bad consequences that follow.

But when have you ever heard a Republican candidate get up and hammer the teachers’ unions for blocking every attempt to give parents—black or white—the choice of where to send their children?

The teachers’ unions are going to be against the Republicans, whether Republicans hammer them or keep timidly quiet. Why not talk straight with black voters about the dire consequences of the public-school monopoly that the teachers’ unions and the Democrats protect at all costs, even though many private and public-charter schools—notably the KIPP schools in various states—have achieved remarkable success with low-income and minority youngsters?