As the race for the GOP nomination narrows to four candidates, thinking people need to acknowledge the elephant in the room–the apparent racism among all of the GOP candidates. The target audience for the GOP is not African Americans, and it’s only Latinos for the purposes of using their votes to take the White House while simultaneously advancing the GOP’s anti-Latino agenda. Things are so out of hand that even the Catholic Church recently admonished Gingrich and Santorum that the use of “racist caricatures is irresponsible, immoral and unworthy of political leaders.”
In some cases, the racism is overt, but most of the time it’s subtle racism that allows these candidates to appeal to their base, while simultaneously not offending the majority of White Democrats. It is beyond me how any person could willingly choose to identify with the GOP, but especially if you are Black or Latino.
While one could argue the merits of conservatism–plenty of Blacks and Latinos hold conservative views while identifying as Democrats–it’s the racist rhetoric of the Republican candidates that should give one pause to consider the implications.
The Bottom Line
While this piece was to illustrate the blatant racism perpetrated by the GOP candidates, I am in no way suggesting that Democrats have the interest of Blacks or Latinos at heart either. My point here is that I’ll be damned if you’re going to call me a nigger to my face show such public disdain for and disrespect of people who look like me and get my vote. It just won’t happen.
You’re a fool and a self-hating Black or Latino if you give any one of these GOP candidates your vote. If you’re White or otherwise and vote for one of these GOP candidates, at a minimum you’re clueless or apathetic about the plight of one-third or more of the U.S. population. Or, maybe you’re a racist just like the racist candidate for whom you voted.
Mitt “Black people need handouts” Romney
Mitt Romney has a terrible track record of racist affiliations and behavior. The most recent incident involved Romney giving a cash handout to a Black woman on a rope line in South Carolina (see video below).
On the surface it might look like, “Oh look! Mitt is such a nice guy to take out a $50 bill from his pocket and give it to a needy, unemployed woman.” In reality, this “gesture” reinforces the image of Black people as always looking for a handout from Whites. You’ll also see Rick Santorum actually say this in one of his stump speeches in the next section.
Rick “I won’t give Black people your money” Santorum
Here’s Santorum saying “I don’t want to make Black people’s lives better by giving them someone else’s money.” He later tried to say he didn’t say “Black people,” but the video below and the context of the discussion says otherwise:
We actually discussed this clip and Santorum’s defense of his statement in Episode 015 of The Axiom Amnesia Theory with Heit & Cheri. It’s discussed in the first few minutes of the podcast at the link below:
Newt “tell Blacks to get off food stamps” Gingrich
Recently, Newt Gingrich had the nerve to say that he would go to the NAACP and tell them why Blacks should be demanding paychecks instead of food stamps. The implication here is that Black people are lazy people who suck up entitlements rather than work to earn a living and take care of ourselves.
Ron “the North should have paid the South when they freed the slaves” Paul
Ron Paul is no stranger to making racist statements. In the following clip, Paul stands in front of a Confederate flag and gives a lecture, which includes the idea that Southern slave owners should have been reimbursed for the cost of their slaves. And yes, he said it in all seriousness and with a straight face.
Mitt “No mercy for Mexican immigrants” Romney
Despite the fact that both Romney’s father and grandfather were born in Mexico, he is very anti-immigration. Perhaps it’s because Mexico refused these relatives Mexican citizenship for what? You guessed it–because they were illegal immigrants!
He seems to have forgotten that Mexico gave refuge to his ancestors in 1885 when they faced persecution for the Mormon practice of polygamy â that was later abandoned.
Romneyâs great grandfather, Miles Park Romney, fled from Utah to Mexico. His grandfather and his father, George Romney, were born in Mexico. Yet, a President Romney would declare open war on immigrants, most of whom come from Mexico. Source: New York Daily News
The DREAM Act is proposed legislation that “would provide conditional permanent residency to certain illegal aliens of good moral character who graduate from US high schools, arrived in the US as minors, and lived in the country continuously for at least five years prior to the bill’s enactment.” It makes perfect sense that children, who had nothing to do with their illegal immigration to the U.S., be shown mercy and allowed to remain in the country they’ve known as home.
Not surprisingly, here’s Romney in this next clip saying he’d veto the DREAM Act if elected POTUS.
Newt “Obama is a food stamp president” Gingrich
Newt Gingrich has called President Obama the “food stamp president” on more than one occasion. This is about the connotation of food stamps. Given that Gingrich has already shown that he equates Blacks with the consumption of government subsidies in the last video, it’s clear that this wasn’t even a thinly-veiled racist remark. Would he have called a White president the food stamp president? I doubt it.
In addition, a recent speech surfaced from 1993, in which Gingrich expressed the notion that Blacks and Latinos know little about entrepreneurship. “For poor minorities, entrepreneurship in small business is the key to future wealth,” Gingrich wrote by hand in a first draft. “This is understood thoroughly by most of the Asians, partially by Latinos, and to a tragically small degree by much of the American black community.” Clearly Gingrich has pushed divisive, racially charged politics and policies for years.
WASHINGTON — At the height of his career in Congress, Newt Gingrich used to tell audiences that renewing American civilization was “the central challenge of the rest of our lives.”
But before Gingrich could deliver his grand new theory of American civilization to the public in a 1993 speech, his deeply divisive racial stereotypes would need to be removed.
“For poor minorities, entrepreneurship in small business is the key to future wealth,” Gingrich wrote by hand in a first draft. “This is understood thoroughly by most of the Asians, partially by Latinos, and to a tragically small degree by much of the American black community.” Source: Huffington Post
Mitt “I support the Mormon church’s racism toward Blacks” Romney
The Mormon Church didn’t allow Blacks until 1978. Before then, Mormons believed that Blacks were a curse and were inferior to Whites. Check out the clips below to hear Romney discuss his faith and how he stands behind it.
Ron “Keep segregated lunch counters” Paul
If it were left up to Ron Paul, the Civil Right’s Act of 1964 would never have been passed. Check out this clip as Ron Paul tries to justify his racist position.
Sources:
Dream Act
Romney & the anti-immigrant activist
Newt Gingrich: Latinos, Blacks Don’t Understand ‘Key To Future Wealth,’ But Asians Do
Catholic leaders to Gingrich, Santorum: Stop the race-baiting
14 comments »