Earlier this week at a Houston rally, conservative activist Apostle Claver Kamau-Imani called the Democrats a racist party of the KKK. The words were spoken at an event sponsored by the Clear Lake Tea Party where GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain was the keynote speaker. Kamau-Imani is the chairman of the right wing blog RagingElephants.org. The name of organization may ring a bell because it was responsible for this foolishness.
Cain took the stage after Kamau-Imani and has not condoned nor condemned the comments. "Our campaign is all about promoting civil dialogue -- while there may be differences of opinion on a wide variety of topics, we believe in never being disagreeable," Cain's spokesman told NBC News. Cain was not on stage while Kamau-Imani was speaking and his spokesman said he does not think Cain was aware of Kamau-Imani's contentious remarks.
In his speech, Kamau-Imani resorted to one of the oldest tricks in the GOP playbook. Just as I said in a post earlier this year, Republicans/conservatives will often go back in time to prove their "theory" that today's version of the Democratic party is racist. You'd have to be stupid on multiple levels to buy into that line of thinking. Does Kamau-Imani really expect to lure blacks to the GOP with his distorted, inflammatory rhetoric?!
Conservatives crack me up when they relive the glory days of the GOP's history of civil rights. It would be like a Miami Dolphins fan talking about the franchise's distant past as if that has anything to do with the 2011 team. The Dolphins were great at one time. However, they flat out suck right now with no signs of improving. Sadly, the GOP is the political version of the Miami Dolphins.
As many of you know, the Hispanic population in the U.S. is booming and won't be slowing down anytime soon. With this population growth comes potential political power. The manner in which the Hispanic community wields this potential power remains to be seen.
The clips below demonstrate how neither party is doing themselves any favors in currying the Hispanic vote. In clip #1, Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks discusses how President Obama's policies on certain issues important to Hispanics could come back to haunt him. In the 2nd clip, a Hispanic conservative appears on Al Sharpton's MSNBC show to talk about why she has walked away from the GOP. Below the 2nd clip is a link to an article about the Hispanic community's past, present, and future role in American politics.
Earlier this week during an interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain gave his explanation as to why a majority of blacks vote Democrat. According to Cain, blacks who don't vote Republican are brainwashed. In addition to being insulting, Cain's comments are one of the reasons why most blacks have no use for the GOP. Apparently, he cannot comprehend the reality that there are blacks who think differently than he does. Cain is indicative of many conservatives in that he's unwilling to take a hard look at the Republican party and entertain the possibility that GOP policies, attitudes towards minorities, etc. could be why most blacks vote Democrat.
Herman Cain is very useful to conservatives because when he makes derogatory remarks about a majority of blacks, non-black conservatives feel they have license to say it too. Both Bill O'Reilly (see 2nd clip below) and Pat Buchanan have backed up Cain's assumptions about blacks who vote Democrat. Rep. Allen West serves the same capacity as Cain because he's made similar comments.
Watching the GOP's attempts at obtaining the black vote is akin to a Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner cartoon. With each feeble effort, they go over the proverbial cliff... crashing to the ground leaving a cloud of dust. Meep, Meep!
Cenk Uygur and Jayar Jackson of The Young Turks give their take on Herman Cain's comments.
Bill O'Reilly discusses Cain's remarks with liberal Fox "News" contributor Jehmu Greene
One of the goals of Diversity Ink is to allow people with differing viewpoints on race-related issues to share them here. Earlier this week, I came across the following post (The Democratic Party, Racism & The Inferiority Complex) on the blog Teresamerica. I contacted the blogger (Teresa) and asked if she'd be interested in letting me use it as a guest post at Diversity Ink; she enthusiastically gave her consent. Teresa also agreed to do a post on her blog inviting readers to come here and join in on the discussion. Even if our discussions end in a stalemate, I think it's important to try and understand why someone with an opposing view thinks the way they do.
This was posted by Teresa on her blog on January 12, 2010:
As the Harry Reid racism controversy has been looming the past couple of days I have been pondering the issue of racism with regards to the Democratic Party. Here are some of my thoughts:
It seems to me that the Democrats have forced African-Americans and other minorities to be reliant on the government and thus beholden to the Democratic Party and their policies as well. The Democrats have forced minorities into the mindset that they are weak, have little opportunity, deserve and need more help, and thus need the Demoratic Party to survive. The Democratic Party have impressed upon minorities and drilled it into their minds that they are inferior and as a result I believe that minorities suffer from an inferiority complex. "Inferiority complex is a term used to describe people who compensate for feelings of inferiority (feeling like they're less than other people, not as good as others, worthless, etc.) by acting ways that make them appear superior. They do this because controlling others may help them feel less personally inadequate."
I believe that the Democratic Party wants to keep minorities poor so that they stay dependent on the government social programs which the Democrats have expanded over the years, thus keeping minorities beholden to them and therefore shoring up their base. I believe that over the last 50-75 years the the Democratic Party has created its own "Democratic Plantation." Why hasn't the income desparity between minorities and caucasians decreased substantially over the past 50 years? Why hasn't the economic situations of minorities improved? If the Democrats were actually helping minorities than why are there still so many problems within minority communities today? Is it because the Democrats are taking advantage of minorities and taking their votes for granted?
Martin Luther King Jr. did not want African-Americans to be treated as if they were "special" or "different", but rather as EQUAL human beings and EQUAL Americans. He wanted African-Americans to be freed from the bondage of the chains. Martin Luther King Jr. wanted people of all races to join hands right next to each other as sisters and brothers. But, are African-Americans really free in a more sociological sense today? It seems to me that the Democrats are keeping African Americans bound by "chains", the chains of pverty. Is the Democratic Party aiding African-Americans so that they can thrive and achieve their maximum potential? I don't think so. Or, we would see far less poverty and violence within minority communities.
Conservatives/Republicans do help minorities and want to continue helping minorities but we also want to help them succeed in life instead of being dependent on the government for money. We want to help everyone achieve a sustainable income so that every family can support themselves and not rely on the government for funds. This gives people a sense of pride and accomplishment. But, maybe conservatives need to be a little bit more proactive in courting the African-American vote? Maybe, we should help them understand history, help them to understand that we really do want to help them, and that we don't want to keep them beholden to us for funds but rather in believing in our ideals and in our common sense conservative ideology. We are ALL Americans and don't ascribe to a color.
