A number of writers have questioned the much-hyped black Republican surge after many of the candidates failed to win nomination in the latest round of primaries. The Root's Cord Jefferson asked ''Whatever Happened to the Black Republican Wave?'' as if black Republicans have failed in some regard.

Granted, black Republican politicians did not deliver many election-night victories. But there is another way to look at their efforts and why the ripple of progress that black Republicans have made in 2010 may not be quite the wave that some people expected.

No doubt, the defeats of former Newt Gingrich staffer Princella Smith and Alabaman Les Phillip were a setback, but there were also victories that Republicans can celebrate. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Bill Randall (R-N.C.) were leading vote-getters in their primaries, forcing runoffs, notable accomplishments considering that their first-step victories occurred in the bastions of the ''Southern Strategy.''

Black Republicans retain influence through key party leaders. Dr. Robin Armstrong, vice chairman of the Texas Republican Party, George Williams in Alabama and Glenn McCall in South Carolina remain in strategic leadership positions--all working to break down the legacy left by Republican political racism in the past 40 years. And despite the frequent prognostications that Michael Steele would be let go as RNC Chair, he still leads the GOP going into this crucial midterm election.

Viewing the black Republican wave as a hit-or-miss prospect undervalues the historical challenge facing the movement. The Southern Strategy was not a one-term presidential initiative in an isolated region of the nation but one that drove Republican politics for decades. Using technology, the toxin of uniting racist Democrats and conservative Republicans spread to voters throughout the country. George H.W. Bush's ''Willie Horton'' ad had a national polarizing effect in the 1988 presidential election because of television, just as the North Carolina GOP's ''God D@#n America'' ad against President Obama impacted the 2008 election through new media. The worst Tea Party imagery and behavior only makes these incidents of mistrust more divisive.