Sheryl Underwood: On the Other Side

Very few people truly say how they feel, and even less say it as unabashedly as comedienne Sheryl Underwood.

Known for her no-holds-barred stand-up routine, Sheryl covers everything from sex, to current events, to politics. And make no mistake, she's earned stripes with a number of high profile comedy competitions including: the Johnny Walker Red Comedy Contest, the Funniest Woman at the Improv, the Old English Comedy Crunch and BET Comic View's Funniest Female Comedian.

And she also holds a Bachelor's and two Masters Degrees.

Far from your average comic, she makes it known that she is a God-fearing, conservative black Republican. A complex threat indeed. She openly proclaims her love for President George Bush -- while still supporting Sen. Barack Obama as her presidential candidate.

Below is an interview you won't forget from Blackvoices' Denver C. Louis.

Interview Highlights

Bill Clinton
Tavis Smiley
Juanita Bynum
Flava Flav
Barack Obama
Michelle Obama
Rev. Jeremiah Wright
Geraldine Ferraro
Fox News
Elliott Spitzer
Kwame Kilpatrick
George W. Bush.

Why be a republican when many African Americans are traditionally Democrat?

Well, the thing is we were Republicans before we were Democrats and that's even an unusual question to ask people who are as diverse as African Americans. We're conservative by nature. We're not as liberal as people paint us out to be. The only thing is we don't want to be restricted the way we were when we were slaves. So we want a certain amount of liberties that most Americans would want. But I just think that's an unusual question ... like I'm supposed to be a Democrat because I'm black.

A lot of African Americans associate the Clinton administration to their allegiance with the Democratic party.

Which is a soiled allegiance! I mean, I think if you look at the time when black people became Democrats, it was partially during the time of the New Deal, when black people were looked at as 'they can't overcome, we can't do certain things', so we needed the assistance of the government to help us. Now, you do need the assistance of government to help you, but you also need the government to stay out of your way when the government becomes so oppressive. My only issue with our people being assumed all Democrat is that we can't leverage our political power because Republicans believe we don't need to go to them, because they're going to vote Democratic anyway.

So then you say, 'ok, I'm going to vote Democrat because they help us.' What help has the Democratic party given you? They're so many black people in the Democratic party. Why aren't there more senators and congressman? Why doesn't the Democratic party structure itself so there's more black leadership, as opposed to having black people in the party that raised the roof with the party, but we don't have authority in the party. If you look at who has been the head of the DNC, I don't think we've had a head of the DNC since Ron Brown but that's the party that loves us so much.

What would you say to the people who think that the Republican party doesn't share the interest of the African American community? For example, if you take a look at some of the primaries when all the candidates were in the race, a lot of prominent Republicans skipped presidential debates primarily thrown by the NAACP or even the debates hosted by Tavis Smiley?

Well, here's the thing about going to the NAACP -- which, I'm a life member of and support. As a Republican, why would you go somewhere that somebody is going to boo you, someone who has been crucifying you, for years? Somebody has been calling you stupid. So these attacks on Barack Obama, we've helped open the door to attacking the President or a presidential candidate when we say anything we want about George Bush and think it is okay. But we didn't realize that once a black man started to run , and a black man tried to become president, and a black man will become president that we would be opening the door for his criticism as well.

Also, if you are going to come to an organization, then why don't you ask me about the issues, instead of crucifying me. If I were a Republican I would not know how to verbally have a discourse with African Americans because the only thing I would know about you is that you're going to boo me, you're going to yell out something, or it's not comfortable for white people to talk to us. Why? They don't live around us, they don't engage us, they only work with us.

Do you think it should be the responsibility of the Republicans to start reaching out to the African-American community?

No, I think it's a responsibility of the African-American community to learn how to leverage their vote and engage people that you can sit down and talk to. You notice that they'll go talk to Hispanics and Asians. You know why? Because Hispanics understand what it is that they really truly want, and when they have an emotion to something they don't let it destroy the goal of what they're trying to achieve. Asians have more respect for people of political office than we do, and that's to our detriment. So that's our problem!

The other thing, you mentioned Tavis Smiley, and Republicans not going to certain things, well unfortunately, I have a lot of respect for Tavis but you should not have one place that you go to get anointed. We should not be discussing our personal issues in the media, so the status quo can use it and say 'well you all are divided.' For example, white people can hate each other in Hollywood, but they'll make a movie together. And you don't know they hate each other. They'll produce something together, and hate each other, but you'll never know it. They'll stand on stage and say, 'I'd like to thank ... for helping me produce ... and blah blah blah'. But we show exactly how we feel about each other all the time.


You've been noted as a conservative Republican, and you wear it very proudly. I'm curious as to what prompted your sudden party shift to Barack?

I didn't have a sudden party shift, I'm still a Republican, and I'm still a conservative. As a Republican I have the right to vote for the best person who's right for this country. It doesn't mean that because you're in a political party that you have to vote for the person all the time. The mechanism of choice to pick a candidate is sometimes not to choose a candidate for the party that you're in. Now, I'm not saying anything against McCain, I think McCain is not just a great American, but a formidable presidential candidate. It's going to be difficult to beat McCain. He's smart. He understands the issues, and he's not the type of Republican that people would dislike. He has a great sense of humor. He has great vision. It's going to be difficult for anyone of them to beat him. My position on supporting Barack Obama, is the way the country feels as a whole. For people who say he's not qualified, you need to study the history of the qualifications for President. There is no qualification for President. There are just certain things you have to have.

What was Truman? Truman was a guy who went from business to business to business and got into politics. He was selected to be the Vice President. He had the qualifications. Roosevelt was this blue bud Easterner and Truman was this Mid-Westerner. But here's the catch of it, they probably never thought Truman was going to be President because it was at the time where Roosevelt could have been the President forever. There was no law saying that you could only serve two terms. But God said, it's time for Roosevelt to come home and get some rest, and now Truman is going to be President. Abraham Lincoln, one of our greatest Presidents, was a congressman who had lost two Senate elections. He didn't have a lot of qualifications. He was smart and knew what to do once he got in. He knew how to listen to his advisers. That's what Barack Obama is going to do. Personally, I think Barack Obama is going to become more conservative once he's in the office.

He's already fairly conservative, and he's going to become more once he gets in the office. That doesn't mean conservative Republican, it just means he's going to become more conservative in his positions. Once he figures out that some of the things that he wants to do, the mechanism will not allow him to do it, he's going to become more conservative. The other thing is nobody is bringing the troops home on January Inauguration Day, nobody is doing that. So, I don't even know why they are talking about it. We're blind-sided because the party is controlled by bloggers on each side on the Internet. There's an extreme right and there's an extreme left. Both of these sides control portions of the party that they belong to where they have to make candidates make extreme statements.

So your main support behind Mr. Obama would be a combination his politics, his charisma, and his ability to unite the country?

The major thing is his ability to unite the country. But the other thing that I don't particularly agree with is some of his more liberal ways of thinking. The thing that we have to start discussing in the black community is how illegal immigration in any form, not Latin illegal immigration, but illegal immigration in any form has a disproportionate affect on our infrastructure. Our emergency services in the inner city, our school systems in the inner city. It strains us. So we don't get to utilize the services, so we fall through the cracks.

The government will pay for illegal immigrants to go to school, but then you want your child to go to school, you can't even get a voucher of your own money. But then they want to pit us against us. Why? So Hillary can say I have the brown vote and Barack can say I have the black vote. But then what you don't have is a vote together where we sit down, so you made one suspicious of the other. I don't like illegal immigration in any form because we didn't get to immigrate as black people; although some of us did before 1619. But we don't agree with illegal immigration. We don't agree with someone breaking the law. And you can't have that discussion without somebody calling you racist.


What do you think of Michelle Obama being the next first lady?

I respect her. I like how she's going to be a phenomenal first lady. I know that she's not going have some of the mess that go on, that other first ladies allowed. I think that it's a good look for the country. I got some of the best hair and makeup guys in the business, so if she need the hookup ... I mean, she already looks good, but you know when you're the first lady, especially the first black lady ... that's why we say we don't like Condoleeza cause of her hair. You know my hairstylist can hook up Condoleeza too. The country has evolved to that level. I think that she could bring change to how first ladies are viewed. Women all over the world would be right to support and look up to her because she's a phenomenal person.

What does the African-American Community need to change the most?

What we need to talk about is the fact that the inner-city looks the same under any administration. We need to talk about the fact there are more African Americans in leadership positions in the armed forces but its not being brought to light. So, for people who say what does the black community need to talk about, the answer would be we need to talk about global economy. We need to talk about the fact that when your job goes overseas you allowed it, because the people you elected allowed it. Democrats and Republicans, although the majority are Democrats. But they have to join with Republicans to agree with what we put forth. Everybody is talking about No Child Left Behind, but we don't talk about how African Americans don't value education the way we used to. We don't put a premium on educating ourselves. When we were being lynched, when we were being violated, when we didn't have full citizenship in the United States, we were doing our best work. We had more scientists, we had more doctors, we had more lawyers that developed more for America when we did not have full citizenship.

We as a people spend so much time on homes, cars, things that make us feel good or look good or buy an over abundance in jewelry to show an oppressor or the white person that I'm just as rich as you are and I'm so rich that I'm gonna be derogatory with it. I'm going to show you that you cannot look down on me. I'm going to go to Martha's Vineyard. I'm going to get a yacht and go to Cannes. We need to tell people to use your money to start a business, we used to do that! Insurance companies, ambulance companies, hospitals! We used to give money to our schools.

If Senator Obama wasn't in the race who would support and why?

I would support McCain. I think McCain is just a great candidate. Plus, I agree with a majority of his positions.


What do you think about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's comments and Barack Obama subsequently renouncing his statements?

Well, I think that the comments he made, I've made some of those in my faith, where our community does believe that they could have AIDS as a weapon. Everybody knows you had chemical and biological weapons in the military, some of the best business items that we have right now like the GPS system is from the military. When you're talking about antibiotics and certain things, they're developed by the military. So we do believe that AIDS had to be cooked up by somebody. When I was making those types of statements, what I thought was that they developed it to kill people of color because we're supposed to be so centralized. But if AIDS and HIV was invented to kill black people, then they lost control of it because it killed white people as well.

My only issue is that a minister making a sexual move in the pulpit bothers me. The other things he said did not necessarily bother me because one you read the Bible for yourself and two, you understand that some of the things the minister say doesn't just play to you, it plays to other people in the audience that he needs to get to go to the Scripture. Some people need to be dragged to the message. Some people need to be cajoled to the message. Some people just sit down and just accept the message. While I don't agree with everything he says, I have said some crazy stuff myself and people believe what I say. But I have the platform to correct it. But to evolve into it and say, 'you know it wasn't right when I said this'. Or' I had to much influence over you when I said this'. A lot of people went to that Church. When I was living in Chicago in the 80s and 90s, Oprah Winfrey went, Selma Graham went, and pretty much all the black newscasters went. That was the spot. They probably don't go there now, but they went.

Do you think that renouncing Rev. Wright was something that he had to do based on the fact that so many news sources were indicating that he was guilty by association?

Well, I can say this, he should have renounced the statements. To say "America KKK"... there's a difference between intimate speech around the dinner table and a preacher's sermon in his pulpit. You can't say everything especially when you're the leading candidate in the Presidential election. Come on now! There are a lot of us who have members in our family that say inappropriate things. We distance ourself from those people. Now when your running for public office you have to make a more pronounced stand because you have to serve all of America. My problem with Barack Obama denouncing the statement is that he waited until it seemed that they told him to do it and that he was not his own man.

Once he heard it, he should have stood up and said, I respect Jeremiah White as a reverend, spiritual advisor, someone who had great influence in my life, that I still consider a friend, but I don't engage him now as much as I did. These statements coming to life is not the America that I want to see. That's what he should have said. 'It's not the America that I want to lead or that I want to be the commander and chief over their troops.' It should have been more specific, more definitive. But his main statement should have been, 'I serve God. I do not serve a man who is fallible to make statements that not everyone agrees with.'

Why do you think the African American community often refers to Bill Clinton as the first black president?

I didn't agree with the statement when it was initially made. I feel that Toni Morrison made that statement and now she's retracting it. My feeling is that's the way we do. We make somebody who is cool with us an honorable member of us. But at the end of the day they're still white. That's nothing against you, but I'd rather deal with people who are ok just being white. I respect my friendship with you for just being you. I don't want to be you. I want us all to be ourselves.

So, now we don't have to retract making somebody an honorary member of our race. Well, since you're an honorable member of our race, let police pull you out your car if your honorary. Let you not be able to get a job because you're black now. Let you not be able to get a mortgage because you didn't understand the document you were signing, because you got more money than you should have got and now you lost your home, since you're an honorary black. Come on Bill Clinton, how bout you lose everything you've already worked for because you're an honorary black friend. It's our fault that we engage him so much, but when we didn't do what he wanted us to do, he starting to say this desire that we have for Barack Obama to lead the country is a fairy tale, my wife is more qualified. Well, if she's such a wonderful person why did you play her? Let's just put it in straight lingo. You so smart, why you couldn't stop someone in the White House for doing what she did.

What's your take on Geraldine Ferraro's remarks about Obama and subsequently leaving Hillary's campaign?

Well, people need to remember that she lost an election. She wasn't the Vice-President. So she needs to get somewhere with that. The other thing is by her saying that he wouldn't be where he is if he wasn't black, is just her really showing how she feels about us. That's something extra and these liberals made it something extra by convincing us to embrace affirmative action like it was going to benefit us anymore. That allotment of jobs closed when we said African Americans are not aggrieved anymore. Now, we need to help white women. We need to help Hispanics. We need to help other people. So, you black people keep going to jail, keep infecting yourself with drugs because you don't need our help. We have to help other people who want to do something.

Why do you think so many things come back to race? Why do people subsequently have to step on eggshells or backpedal when they make statements about Obama?

It's because they have nothing else. They are the ones who gave him the spot to speak at the convention. They gave Herald Ford Junior the same spot. But they gave Barack Obama the spot and he hit it out the park. As long as they needed him to be what they wanted and not go for the brass ring they were cool with it. Let's make it plainer than that. They say, he's only where he's at because he's black. He's only where's he is because of a fairy tale. But wait a minute, he's good enough to be Vice President and help Hillary get in office because we need the black vote. But when Republicans say let's put Condoleeza on the ticket with McCain, all ya'll just doing it because she's black. Race is an issue when they need race to be the issue.