After years of trying to shake their long held racist image, the GOP is at it again. First, they collectively take the odd position to fight against the first hispanic nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, and now they’re caught stirring racist humor against African-Americans via Facebook.
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Audra Shay, Vice-Chair of the Young Republicans and leading candidate to be elected Chairman on Saturday, is now the latest in a growing list of GOP officials learning the “race lesson” the hard way. On Wednesday, Shay, a 38-year old army veteran, mother and event planner from Louisiana who was endorsed by Gov. Bobby Jindal, was caught holding court on her Facebook page. Shay initiated a political conversation by posting that “WalMart just signed a death warrant by endorsing Obama’s healthcare plan.” Soon after, her friend Eric S. Piker responded by saying “It’s the government making us commies… can’t even smoke in my damn car… whats next they going to issue toilet paper once a month… tell us how to wipe our asses…” Two minutes later, Piker posted again saying “Obama Bin Lauden [sic] is the new terrorist… Muslim is on there side [sic]… need to take this country back from all of these mad coons… and illegals.” A few minutes after that, Shay gave approval to Piker’s comments by saying “You tell em Eric! lol.”`
Needless to say, a slew of pro and con comments ensued, most of which took issue with Piker’s racist use of the word “coon” and Shay’s eventual agreement. Derek Moss was among the first to respond, saying “What’s disheartening is the use of the word “coon” in 2009. Wow… I’m usually out-numbered about 500-to-1 on Audra’s threads so go ahead, lemme have it, I deserve it.” Soon after, Piker took the bait saying “This is still America… freedom of speech and thought is still allowed… for now any ways… and the last time i checked I was a good ole southern boy… and if yur ass is black don’t let the sun set on it in a southern town…” In the interest of damage control Shay deleted the controversial exchanges from her page (but not before screen shots were taken) and tried to extinguish the fire internally. She posted a Facebook update stating that neither she nor her Young Republican colleagues “condones the use of racial slurs on my wall…. It is not right to nor appropriate to talk that way and will not be accepted!”
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Although the exchanges on Shay’s page might be dismissed as an isolated ugly incident, there seems to be a pattern emerging from the fringe of the GOP. Three weeks ago, former South Carolina state election director and Richmond County GOP Chair Rusty DePass “joked” on his Facebook page that First Lady Michelle Obama was the descendant of a gorilla missing from a local zoo. Only a few days later, Tennessee state legislative aide Sherri Goforth sent an email labeled “Historical Keepsake” which contained portraits of all the U.S. President’s and a pair of white eyes peering out from a black background to symbolize President Obama. When confronted, the aide to State Senator Diane Black only regretted sending the image to the wrong email list and carried no remorse beyond that. And of course, we all remember Chip Saltzman’s bid to be RNC Chair and his parody CD featuring the song “Barack the Magic Negro.”
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Lenny McAllister, founder of the black conservative site HipHopRepublican.com is embarrassed and disheartened by the actions of his party, saying “It seems like some of us Republicans are taking our conservative message, mixing it with personal prejudices and racist views, and calling it patriotism. You can cover cyanide with chocolate, but you still can’t call it candy.”
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Lenny McAllister, founder of the black conservative site HipHopRepublican.com is embarrassed and disheartened by the actions of his party, saying “It seems like some of us Republicans are taking our conservative message, mixing it with personal prejudices and racist views, and calling it patriotism. You can cover cyanide with chocolate, but you still can’t call it candy.”
