Political Humor | Partisianship or Racism?

I read in Opinion Journal’s Best of the Web that Democrats have made a surprising and bold admission: Racism is OK, if it’s directed toward conservatives. The piece appeared in the Washington Times. Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele is running for U.S. Senate, and Black Democratic leaders in Maryland say it’s fair to use racial attacks because he is a conservative Republican.

State Sen. Lisa A. Gladden, a black Baltimore Democrat, said she does not expect her party to pull any punches, including racial jabs at Mr. Steele, in the race to replace retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes.

“Party trumps race, especially on the national level,” she said. “If you are bold enough to run, you have to take whatever the voters are going to give you. It’s democracy, perhaps at its worse [sic], but it is democracy.”

Delegate Salima Siler Marriott, a black Baltimore Democrat, said Mr. Steele invites comparisons to a slave who loves his cruel master or a cookie that is black on the outside and white inside because his conservative politics are, in her view, anti-black.

“Because he is a conservative, he is different than most public blacks, and he is different than most people in our community,” she said. “His politics are not in the best interest of the masses of black people.”

Why is it acceptable to use racial attacks on someone because they are Black and conservative? I understand that running for office is a dirty game, but doesn’t that cross the line? Democrats always claim that it is the Republicans that want to return to the days of Jim Crow laws, don’t they? They’re supposed to be the party of racial equality, and here they are, having not one reservation about calling this man Oreo (Black on the outside but white on the inside), or Uncle Tom.

I find it offensive to think that many successful Blacks are disparaged, and attacked simply for reasons of political partisanship. They say conservative blacks don’t hold the same views as the rest of the black community. Is that so? I think that’s insulting as well. Is it really the mainstream belief among blacks that we should not take care of our families, educate ourselves, persevere, and take personal responsibility. I’d expect that it is a commonly held belief that one should possess those qualities.

I would expect that to think otherwise would be the same as believing blacks to be inferior by their very nature. That would most certainly be an offensive, and racially bigoted way of thinking.

Let’s assume that blacks don’t believe in those values, just for the sake of intellectual argument. IF that were true, then would it not be incumbent upon the community to perhaps re-evaluate their beliefs. Why attack the individual that has demonstrated that one can overcome racial inequities? Why attack a person that, regardless of color, has shown that success can be achieved through perseverance? Partisanship, or racism?

Steve the Pirate has an excellent piece on this subject.
Linked on Mudville Gazette, Wizbang, Stop the ACLU, Point Five

Steele, Politics, Racism