This Saturday is the election for Chairman of the Young Republican National Federation, of which I am a member. This past week I was witness to seemingly inappropriate actions by one of the candidates regarding some racist comments posted on her Facebook wall. In a nutshell, the back story is here and my email which I sent to the National Committee was posted at HipHopRepublican.com and The Conservatist. It is unfortunate that liberal media outlets have also picked up this story, as it is deeply embarrassing for young conservatives, and rightly so. Since I made my statement, more information has been brought to light regarding comments made back in October, and I’m now even less wiling to give anyone the “benefit of the doubt” on this situation. Still as of today there’s been no apology.
My post here is a personal one though, on my observation of the reaction to this. It saddens me that a few people making excuses for this behavior and attacking those that condemn it as being “political” – but as I would expect, most YRs have come out against racism. What’s really troubling me is that as I read through the comments and stories on The Daily Beast, Wonkette, Gawker, Huffington Post, Daily Kos, and on and on, it became painfully obvious that people felt racist comments were normal for Republicans (Comedy Central’s headline read: “You’ll Never Believe Which Party Is Associated with This New Racist Scandal [You Actually Will Believe It Very Easily]“). For the record, I want to say, in my experience this is not true. I cannot speak for all parts of the country, so perhaps I am just that naive Seattle girl, but when I have to tell people to please not tell racist jokes around me, it’s usually not my Republican friends I’m having to address. I am not the exception, and racism is not the rule. This story is news because this is not normal YR behavior. View Full Article »
