If blacks don't reward GOP for civil rights, why would Latinos reward GOP for amnesty?

The RNC’s “autopsy” buys into the idea that voting for “comprehensive immigration reform” is the key to winning Hispanic votes for the GOP:

We are not a policy committee, but among the steps Republicans take in the Hispanic community and beyond, we must embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform. If we do not, our Party’s appeal will continue to shrink to its core constituencies only.

It is worth remembering that Republicans led the fight for civil rights for black Americans, and voted for the 1964 Civil Rights Act in greater proportions than their Democratic counterparts. Yet Republicans barely capture any of the black vote today. 

There are two lessons. One is that minorities tend to reward the president in power, not the opposition party, for the passage of favorable legislation. Hispanics voted for Obama, and the enactment of immigration reform would be seen as a result of that vote, not the result of Republican cooperation.

The other lesson is that Democrats are able to cast Republicans as racists in spite of the facts, not because of them. The left’s ownership of pop culture allows it to rewrite history. Until Republicans compete on that terrain, they will continue to lose regardless of the party’s position on immigration.