2 posts tagged “community”
“This is what keeps African-Americans from joining the
Republican Party," said Sheila Raines, a member of a San Bernardino County
Republican group. "I'm really hurt. I cried for 45 minutes. I would have
to say it is one of the things that will keep mixed independents from voting
for the party also (that would be me).
What makes somebody who is an African American member of the Republican party
get this offended. Possibly the picture in the local Republican newsletter
(Chaffey Community Republican Women, Federated) with Senator Barack Obama on
what appears to be a ten dollar foodstamp surrounded by a bucket of chicken,
watermelon, Koolaid, and ribs.
When is someone going to calm the Republican Party down? This is getting so
much bigger than this election. In the past twenty four hours I have heard and
seen more angry Republican faithful and more angry Republican blogs and emails
than I could have ever imagined was possible.
I have some understanding of the current feelings (as I tend to lean slightly
right of the middle), but the party is shooting itself in both feet and the
head with all of this chaos. Thos who are not far to the right are finding it
very hard not to think the whole party has not lost it’s collective mind. Then
early reporting states that the woman responsible (in the near Los
Angeles region of California)
did not think the image of Senator Obama with chicken, watermelon, and ribs
would be offensive. Oh I pray that there will be a report tomorrow that this
was a hoax.
You can blame the media coverage, the Democrats or whoever, but whatever is
happening; it is going to soon leave us with a one party government if this is
not toned down quickly. I am not even sure if the most left people in the
universe would want that to happen.
The Republicageddon is upon us and I really do not want to see it happen nor
can we afford it to happen. I hope and pray that someone with some sphere of
influence within the Republican Party would calm all of this down before this
escalates.
Those who are Democrats, please remain calm and do not escalate this any more
than it needs to be. Both sides need to calm down.
Again, we have really big problems right now as a nation without adding
insanity like this.
What is wrong with everybody? Fox is reporting that Jessie Jackson used the “N” word in that conversation he had on the air thinking he was of the air.
The point of his off the air conversation was to say that Senator Obama is talking down to black people. I can think of few things one can do to “talk down” to African Americans that are as impacting as use of the “N” word.
The crazy part of all of this is that this man thinks of himself as an Obama supporter. This man also thinks of himself as a leader in the African American community and here he is on tape talking about Senator Obama in such a negative light and is using some of the worst language that one can use in discussing African Americans.
I have never been a huge Jessie Jackson fan, but this is unfortunate for him that his private conversation was recorded like that. But, I guess he has nobody to blame but himself for whispering into a microphone in front of a camera and assuming that nobody would hear him.
I suppose that this is a sign of the passing of the baton from one generation of leaders in the African American community to the next generation. This particular incident is just one indicator as to why the baton needs to change hands.
President or no president, the multi-racial and well-spoken Senator Obama seems like a good choice to be a leader in the African American community.
As far as the election, the only thing I think that has happened here is that Jessie Jackson has just lost much of his voice in terms of influencing this election and possibly within the African American community as a whole. For Senator Obama it seems as though this is just a small distraction from the regular stresses of the campaign.
