GOP Not Racist, Just Misunderstood

Screen shot from Poplar Bluff, Missouri city councilman Peter Tinsley's Facebook page.

The picture has since been removed.

In October of last year, in a fit of pique and to show how on-board he was with the GOP's Obamacare-Will-Destroy-the-Country campaign, Poplar Bluff, Missouri city councilman Peter Tinsley posted a doctored photo on his Facebook page showing President Obama as an African witch doctor dressed in loincloth, bones and feathers and with the "C" in Obamacare changed to a Communist hammer and sickle symbol.

Last week, after being called out at a city council meeting, he apologized, blaming the Republican Party for making him do it.  "At one time, I was a very active Republican, very opposed to Obama...I believe I got caught up in an emotional moment of sharing jokes."

Local Republican chairman Eddy Justice responded, in the GOP's defense, that Republicans are not racist and did not encourage Mr. Tinsley's racist photos or comments.  "Republicans believe everyone should be judged on their qualifications, on their ability."

On August 18, ten months after posting it, Mr. Tinsley finally removed the offensive picture from his Facebook page.

what eye thynk:   First, I have to believe that if he hadn't been called out by a prominent church leader in Poplar Bluff, that picture would still be on Mr. Tinsley's Facebook page.  And, what ever happened to personal responsibility?  Why is it that everything seems to be someone else's fault?  The "my political party made me do it" defense just doesn't fly.

Second, looking at the GOP's record since President Obama took office in 2009, I'd say chairman Justice may be a bit confused about how his party views minorities:

• Jim Brown (R) candidate for Congress from Arizona: "I want folks to think about something.  I want folks to think about how slavery really works.  Back in the day of slavery, slaves were kept in slavery by denying them education and opportunity while providing them with their basic needs...Basically slave owners took pretty good care of their slaves and livestock and this kept business rolling along."
• In his book, Confessions of a Frustrated Conservative, Arkansas State Representative Jon Hubbard (R) wrote that slavery "may actually have been a blessing in disguise.  The blacks who could endure those conditions and circumstances would someday be rewarded with citizenship in the greatest nation every established on the face of the earth...(and) wouldn't life for blacks in America today be more enjoyable and successful if they would only learn to appreciate the value of a good education?"
• Nevada State Representative Jim Wheeler, speaking to a Republican crowd last year, responded to a question from Chuck Muth, leader of the conservative group Citizens Outreach.  Muth asked Mr. Wheeler if he would vote yes "If...citizens decided they wanted to, say, bring back slavery?" Wheeler responded "Yeah, I would."
• At last year's Conservative Political Action Conference, the largest and most important gathering of conservative Republicans of the year, one of the scheduled panel discussions was called "Trump the Race Card."  Audience participant Scott Terry's comment that "Blacks should be happy that the slave master gave them shelter, clothing and food" was greeted with cheers.  He was rewarded with more cheers and applause when he continued that he believed racial integration would be a better policy for today.  He did agree that blacks should be allowed to vote...in Africa.
• Alabama Representative Mo Brooks (R) recently opined that Democrats are "waging war against white people."
• In Kentucky, conservative Judge Sandra McLaughlin makes no apologies for her dislike of President Obama.  Recently Darryl Broaddus appeared in her courtroom for an arraignment wearing an Obama t-shirt. "He's lucky to get out of here alive.  Did you see his t-shirt? That was a double whammy...(that shirt is) not helping (his cause.)"
• U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota) told Fox News that "We would treat any other colored President the same way...I don't see why they call us racists."
• Don Yelton (R) North Carolina precinct captain appeared on The Daily Show to defend the state's new voter ID laws and peppered his comments with the N-word and phrases like "lazy blacks." He said he loved seeing portrayals of President Obama as a witch doctor.

Which brings us back to Mr. Tinsley's Facebook post of our President as an African tribal witch doctor.  

Is it true that every Republican is a racist? Of course not.  Neither does every Democrat support equal opportunity for those of other races.  The truth is, however, that the Republican Party does little to silence racist attitudes within its ranks, choosing instead to laugh at members' tasteless jokes, wink at disrespectful comments aimed at our first black President, (when Republican leadership isn't making like comments themselves), and cheer when rank and file party members voice opinions steeped in pre-1960 precepts.

Public denial, no matter how loud, does nothing to change private attitudes--and privately, the GOP provides its members with a protected environment in which to continue the incubation of their entrenched racist beliefs.