It seems like both parties have members that expose their bigotry and racism now or in the past.
Let’s start with Steve King of the Republican Party. He is Iowa’s 4th Congressional District representative. The district is overwhelmingly white, but there are some voters of color living there. It is 93% White, 1.2% Black, and 1.6% Asian.
Mr. King, according to the New York Times, said “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization— how did that language become offensive?”. He has been removed from his committee assignments rather than being fired. In the past King has embraced white supremacy. And he has existed in his job due to the support of his constituents. So while we stand by states rights to elect whom they wish, if their officials in the Congress support racism or homophobia, we object.
So, Mr. King was denounced by some Republicans, those same people have a checkered history.
Representatives Phil Roe of Tennessee and Andy Harris of Maryland met with Chuck Johnson a white supremacist and anti-Semitic, according to aides to both members. Congressman Roe said “he was not aware of this individual’s viewpoints nor were they discussed during their brief meeting”. However, previous meetings and views of these officials cast clouds on the denial.
King has said bigoted comments on migrants. In 2013 he made the ridiculous claim that for every child of illegal immigrants “who’s a valedictorian, there’s another 100 out there who weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.”
Once again, he was reprimanded by House Speaker John Boehner, but King stood by his claim.
This confirms voters’ suspicions about certain members of the the Republican Party that it’s the uncaring party, that it’s the party of white America. They count on our shrugs and the short shelf life of our outrage.
Tim Scott, the lone black Republican in the Senate, in a Washington Post op-ed last week. said “I would venture that a great many Americans do not charge Republicans with racist deeds or actions because of what they say, or what they don’t say when something offensive comes to light. This is about what they do.”
Also, remember that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who just last August warned Florida voters not to “monkey this up” when he found himself facing black Democrat Andrew Gillum, and failed to comment on the marked racial disparities throughout Miami Dade County’s criminal justice system. There are many wounds that too many Americans in power leave unaddressed. It is akin to the “dream deferred” that Langston Hughes wrote of in his poem.
We are seeing too many apologies delivered well after the fact, and sanctions and slaps delivered too lightly upon the wrists of people who remain in positions of power. We must recognize that the problem is systemic, not a collection of individual stories and grievances.So, let’s turn to the other party: the Democrats.
Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, last week announced she was running for president. She apologized for her record of anti-gay rhetoric and her past work for an anti-gay advocacy group. Perhaps, members of the Democratic party have less reticence to change their positions as the “evolve”.
Ms. Gabbard has come under fire from lLGBT advocates in the days since she announced her presidential ambitions, which drew renewed focus to her past work for the Alliance for Traditional Marriage. The group, which was run by her father, State Senator Mike Gabbard, fought against gay rights in Hawaii and helped pass an amendment to the State Constitution that gave the Legislature the power to ban same-sex marriage.
Ms. Gabbard said online: “In my past I said and believed things that were wrong, and worse, they were very hurtful to people in the L.G.B.T.Q. community and to their loved ones,”
“My views have changed significantly since then,” she added, “and my record in Congress over the last six years reflects what is in my heart: a strong and ongoing commitment to fighting for L.G.B.T.Q. rights.”
As a member of Congress, she has voted in favor of L.G.B.T. rights and has received praise from the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group. Advocates welcomed her apology but were underwhelmed.
The question is should we hope that people have lifelong values of equality and inclusion, demonstrated over their lifetime.
Ms. Gabbard alluded to her conservative upbringing and her father’s work on Thursday in her video, but did not go into detail about her own anti-gay advocacy as a young person. She was the youngest person ever elected to the Hawaii State Legislature.
America now is more permissive of explicit racism than it’s been at any point since the civil rights era. And because bigotries rarely dance alone, the president’s nativism is accompanied by anti-black racism—first seen in his “birther” crusade against Barack Obama—anti-Muslim prejudice, and anti-Semitism.
The current administration has demonized immigrants from Mexico and instituted a policy that Muslims should be banned from our country. They have indicated that certain members of the LGBTQ community should not serve in the military. Also they have attempted to eliminate diversity visas for persons from African, Caribbean and Central American countries, after berating these countries.
Enough is enough. Covert and open bigotry has no place in this country.
Abraham Lincoln wrote “As a nation, we began by declaring that ‘all men are created equal.’ We now practically read it ‘all men are created equal, except negroes.’ When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read ‘all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.”
Words to live by.
Sources: Rolling Stone, New York Times, CNN
