It seems as though many do not recognize the serious side of the man Jimmy McMillan who is known as “The Rent is Too Damn High” dude. There’s a serious side to the man who by the way is a black republican. However, this article is mainly about the selfishness & inconsiderate behavior of the GOP (and Tea Party) towards what may be relevant to its members who are in the minority.
Knowing what I knew prior to interviewing him on 5/12/2012, I’ve concluded that McMillan was very thoughtful enough to show up at Oklahoma GOP state convention. And its apparent he showed up at the request of Mark Costello (state labor commissioner) as a favor. I say all this, because he showed up despite the fact that he posted videos on his YouTube expressing his concerns about the GOP & Tea party racism a few months prior to his arrival.
I decided to take a closer examination of McMillan when I first saw him at the Oklahoma GOP state convention on 5/11/2012 because I did not know at that time he switched to the republican party in 2011. Figuring that he would be around, I did an internet search when I retired to my hotel room so that I could learn more about him with anticipation that I would be able to interview him the following day.
My research revealed that McMillan shared my own views about the racial negativity of the Tea Party and the GOP towards the poor & racial minorities. So when I interviewed him the following day – 5/12/2012, I was trying to determine what he would say. In this interview I never brought up about his videos that he posted 3 months earlier about the tea party / GOP being racist because the time & place was inappropriate considering this GOP convention in Oklahoma had too many white people watching, walking by & listening. As a black person to another black person, I didn’t want to put him in an awkward position especially in a venue where there was only a hand full blacks. Also, the building was packed full of tea party folks; and not to mention that I was trying to be considerate of Mark Costello.
It appeared as though by McMillan having national popularity, he was brought in as a “calling card” by Mark Costello (state labor commissioner) to help generate interest in Costello’s special project to get a contested state GOP platform adopted at this convention. People at this convention were allowed to pose for photo ops w/ McMillan in front of Costello’s sign/booth located in the convention hallway. And the photos were free. I got mine in the mail few weeks later. I thought this was an ingenious, brilliant & very creative idea of Costello. After all, Costello got his proposal passed later that day. After that interview, McMillan gave a 2 minute speech to the state delegation about the national deficit and then he left.
The point that Im trying to make is that just because a black person or any other racial minority within the GOP does not speak out about racial offenses, does not mean they do not take notice of it. Speaking as a black person, I want to make those aware that black republicans, albeit a racial minority in the GOP, do have dearly loved family members who are black democrats. Even racial slurs & poster displays depicting black democrat leaders in racially offensive terms, does not remove a black republican from feeling slighted. When the tea party and GOP demean Muslims, do they not think Governor Jindal does not take notice? Do they not think that their negative rhetoric towards Hispanics is not noticed by Senator Rubio? And what of the Log Cabin republicans, when tea party and GOP hurl hate speech towards gays? With all the problems that the democrats have, it does not even compare to the overwhelming spew of racism that is seen coming from the Republican side of the aisle. Yes, it is that noticeable. But what’s more noticeable is the deafening silence from the affected GOP racial/cultural minorities who fail to speak against it.
Maybe the silence of most black republicans on racial offenses towards blacks could be due to feeling out numbered, or under-presented, or out of fear of being labeled as a race baiter. Or maybe, sadly, just out of pure politeness or trying to tolerate it. Many black republicans (with few exceptions) have allowed themselves to be shamed by their GOP white counterparts, into not publicly affiliating w/historically black groups like the NAACP. However, I’ve seen black GOP members (myself included) rushed to the defense of their white counter-parts within the party for accusations of racism, with hopes that things would calm down a bit. But even this has its limits.
There’s good and bad points in both political parties. I know what the problem are with the Democrat party and many would ask me “what about the liberals”? That’s a subject matter to be had at a later time in a separate post. So I’m going to stick w/ the subject matter at hand – the GOP and the Tea Party. In my opinion and based on my observations, most of the problems that ails the GOP and Tea Party is that it is resistant to CULTURAL ADVANCEMENT within American society.
America has evolved, but the GOP & the Tea Party
cant seem to evolve with it.
It’s “Them” vs. “America”.
I have heard Republican leaders condemn the use of terms such as Uncle Tom and Oreo (as Herman Cain was called by a Black Democratic congresswoman, no less). While biggotry and racism exists in every sub group in America, I don’t believe the Tea Party or the Republicans, as a whole, are racist. Any more so than the NAACP, as a whole, is racist.
Is the belief in traditional marriage gay bashing? Not in my book.
Is the belief that illegal immigration is hurting America hispanic bashing? Not in my book.
Is the belief that Obama is a poor leader for America racist? Not in my book.
We have not achieved MLK’s dream. As long as someone feels there is a need for Affirmative Action (which is, in itself racist. Poor white males don’t get a break anywhere–not in hiring, not in being accepted at college, not even in youth sports leagues where girls are given the right to play on boys teams OR an all-girls team, but boys can’t have their own all boys team because that’s considered sexist), as long as indiviuals continue to classify groups of people by the color of their skin, as long as regulations and laws favor one group or another based on skin color, we will never achieve it.
Attitudes take generations to change. Funny, it was the Republicans that pushed through the civil rights legislation in the 1960′s. It was the Democrats who had far more KKK members–including Democratic Senator Robert Byrd–that fought the passage of civil rights.
Obviously, I have a different life experience than you and can’t view this issue in the same light. But I can agree that racism hurts ALL of us, and our country.
I have never heard a Republican or a Tea Partier say anything racist. The only people I have heard say racist things were liberals and drunks and drug users who had no political leanings. If anything, the Republicans I know are aching to attract more black, Native American and Latino friends. The majority of white Republicans would be sad, angry and surprised to learn of any concrete instance of racism in the party. However when we hear it where it doesn’t make any sense, like someone using a circular argument or a non sequitur, or implying that discussions of the values of different religious beliefs are secretly somehow about race, we tune out because 20 years of false accusations with no recourse make almost anyone glaze over, no matter who it is or what the topic is. If you hear a real, specific racist comment by a real, verified Republican, PLEASE tell another white Republican you know, so we can be aware of who the offenders are too.