Friday, July 17, 2009

Racism Round Up

Are Republicans racist? Sure some of them. And from a commenter at Wonkette, here's a helpful list.


September 29: Danny Funderburk, mayor of Fort Mill, South Carolina (sent out an email claiming the Bible says the Antichrist will be a person of Muslim extraction, meaning Obama)

October 16: Diane Fedele, president of the Chaffey (California) Community Republican Women (included “Obama Bucks” with pictures of watermelon and fried chicken on them in her group’s newsletter)

December 25: Chip Saltsman, former chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party and candidate for RNC chairman (sent out a “Christmas gift” containing a Youtube video about “Barack the Magic Negro”)

February 5: Carol Carter, Republican state committeewoman from Hillsborough County, Florida (sent out an email asking, “How can 2,000,000 blacks get into Washington, DC in 1 day in sub zero temps when 200,000 couldn’t get out of New Orleans in 85 degree temps with four days notice?”)

February 25: Dean Grose, mayor of Los Alamitos, California (emailed around a picture of watermelons growing on the White House lawn)

March 12: Boyd Austin, mayor of Dallas, Georgia (suggested on his Facebook status that Obama give the British prime minister a gift of malt liquor and cigarettes)

June 2: Diann Jones, a vice chairman of the Collin County (Texas) Republican Party (sent an email about how Obama is plotting against Americans from his office in the “Black House” because Texas state lawmakers were considering a tax on firearms purchases)

June 14: Rusty DePass, South Carolina GOP activist (said an escaped gorilla from a local zoo was a relative of Michelle Obama’s)

June 16: Sherri Goforth, executive assistant for Tennessee Republican State Rep. Diane Black (sent around a picture of all the presidents where Obama is just goggle eyes against a black background)

July 17: Gary Frago, city councilman in Atwater, California (sent a whole lot of emails full of racist jokes about Obama to everybody he knew)
Oh, that last one... let's catch up.

ATWATER -- In the past several months Atwater City Councilman Gary Frago has sent at least a half-dozen e-mails to city staff and other prominent community members containing racist jokes aimed at President Barack Obama, his wife and black people in general.

In all, the Sun-Star obtained seven e-mails that Frago sent from October 2008 to February 2009 from an anonymous source.

Some compared Obama to O.J. Simpson while others suggested that "nigger rigs" should now be called "presidential solutions."

Perhaps the most overboard e-mail was sent on Jan. 15. It read: "Breaking News Playboy just offered Sarah Palin $1 million to pose nude in the January issue. Michelle Obama got the same offer from National Geographic."

Frago admitted sending the e-mails, but showed no regret. "If they're from me, then I sent them," he said. "I have no disrespect for the president or anybody, they weren't meant in any bad way or harm."
The Merced Sun thoughtfully provides a PDF of the emails! I haven't opened it but I'm sure Frago followed each joke with a note reminding readers that these are jokes that someone sent to him, and they should not be laughed at because they are horribly, horribly racist.

Well, the one thing that Republicans can take comfort in is that this kind of behavior is it only occurs at the small, grassroots level. Prominent Republicans treat are always deferential to minorities, and that's why they'll win their support at the next round of elections. Once that get that loser Michael Steele outta there.

Oh and don't get me started on Pat Buchanan.

12 comments:

wamk said...

Piker, are there any prominent Democrats that are racist? Or even any Democrats at all that are racist?

piker62 said...

I'll bet there are!

Knock yourself out.

Warner Todd Huston said...

Um, some of those (almost half of them) weren't "racist" at all.

But don't get me started on Pat Buchanan, either. That guy is a creep.

But, for a nice list of the racists of the Democraptic Party we have to go to Sharpton, Jackson, and also Bobbie Byrd, the KKK member. If you want to play find the racist, let's start with the party built on plantation politics (as in today) and slavery (as in yesterday) and we call it the Democrat Party.

Warner Todd Huston said...

... and how could I forget Cynthia McKinney?

wamk said...

Piker, I'm just curious if you think there are any prominent Democrats who are racist, and if you can name them.

Would be interested to see who you list, when you shine the same light of truth on your own Party.

wamk said...

Saltsman: We've discussed the "Barack, the Magic Negro" song at great length. You know the song is a parody about Al Sharpton, and not Obama. I wonder why you included it on your list? Intellectual dishonesty is such an ugly trait, don't you agree? Or did you "forget" the song is about Sharpton and comments he made about Obama?

piker62 said...

WAMK, the truth is I'd rather not list them, but I am generously inviting you to. Which is probably more than you'd do for me on your blog.

Warner came up with a few, though most of those guys haven't been caught with their hands in the cookie jar since the seventies. And McKinney (whose "racist" offense was calling white people racist) is with the Green Party nowadays. I admit she was voted out of the Democrats mostly for sheer craziness rather than racially offensive remarks.

Anyway, it ain't my list, it's a commenter from Wonkette. I'm too lazy to compile my own list. And he compiled it from Wonkette posting

piker62 said...

Sorry my desktop went all wonky there and I had to switch computers. I think the MAGIC NEGRO thing was misinterpreted but I bet that most of the people who forwarded it around weren't thinking in terms of the wry commentary on use of heroic, white-helping negroes in fiction. I bet that's not why Limbaugh played it in the first place either.

Warner, it just occurred to me - which is the non-racist half?

wamk said...

Why not list them? If your goal is to expose racists for what they are, why not call out all parties?

Or is your charge of "racism" more for political gain, and not "real" racism?

No issues since the Seventies? Wasn't there a certain Democrat who recently was revealed to have had concerns about Miguel Estrada being Hispanic, and possibly on the short track to the Supreme Court?

Your excuse of laziness is repulsive. You'll play the race card to score cheap political points, but not look within your own Party for other transgressions. Nice to see you really care about the issue.

So you admit the song was incorrectly interpereted as racist, yet chose to include it in your post anyway. How pleasant of you to keep information you know to be wrong intact, thereby giving it credibility. Nice ethics you have there.

Limbaugh always makes fun of Sharpton and Jackson as the race-hustlers they are. This song parody was in the same vein.

You truly have reached a new low in my eyes. Congratulations.

piker62 said...

Wow, I'm sorry you're so offended by posting things solely to make political points. If you ever catch yourself doing something like that, I hope you can stop yourself. Me, I'm weak that way.

Why not name that "certain Democrat" ? Who are you protecting?

Warner Todd Huston said...

The first one isn't a racist remark. Right or wrong about his Biblical interpretation and/or Obama, Funderburk was not saying that Muslims are inherently all "anti-Christs." His comments were incendiary, yes, racist, no.

The third one with Saltsman you guys were already talking about. That one wasn't racist, either, EXCEPT on behalf of the L.A. Times writer that coined the phrase that the song was making fun of.

The fourth one was also not racist. It was situational, but was not inherently racist.

I don't see the seventh one as racist, either.

So, four out of eight are not racist.

piker62 said...

Warner, I think you're being generous about those last two, though I'll grant you the first two. And this is a trivial point, but there aren't 8 things on the list. There are 10.

Carter's remark is fascinating to me, because the population of New Orleans as well as the ethnic make up of the crowd at the inauguration was clearly mixed. Why focus on the African Americans? Because there's no comedy otherwise. But then, the joke isn't funny unless you buy the premise, which is that African Americans are shiftless. Or am I overthinking?