Race and racism in candidates speech or beliefs has been a large factor in determining the success on votes for many years. According to the article by CBS on January 6, 2012, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich were scrutinized by the National Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for including remarks of racial undertones. The NAACP is an activist group for minorities that was founded in 1909 as a response to the lynching of black people. When it was founded it consisted of 53 white people and 7 black people. The NAACP's goal was to secure the rights of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution. These rights promised black people an end to slavery, the equal protection of the law, and voting rights for black males. In the 1940’s the NAACP convinced President Roosevelt to agree to open thousands of jobs to black workers because they threatened a national March on Washington in 1941. President Roosevelt also agreed to set up a Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) to ensure agreement.
Throughout the 1940s the NAACP saw a large growth in membership and by the close of the decade had over 600,000 members. The group continued its legislative and legal advocacy by helping to inaugurate an anti-lynching act and the integration of public schools. They succeeded in these goals by 1950 when with the end of Brown vs board of education, where schools became integrated. Heading into the 21st century, the NAACP succeeded in maintaining the civil rights that all black people receive as well as maintaining civil rights in economics, health care, education, voting, and the criminal justice system. The NAACP now has over half a million members and its current President is Benjamin Jealous.
The NAACP responded to Republican candidate Rick Santorum because while he was in a press conference in Iowa, a state that is only 3% African American. Rick Santorum stated on January 7th, “ I don‘t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money and provide for themselves and their families.” This statement had been deemed racist since most of the people who needed public assistance in the US are white people living in non urban areas. Also, since his audience was predominantly white, he has been scrutinized for using black people as a scapegoat for the ills of the government. Another incident of racial stereotyping had been committed by Republican candidate Newt Gingrich who stated that Obama was “the best food stamp act President in history,” and that African Americans should be given the opportunity to have paychecks rather than food stamps. This was deemed another racist comment since Black people are not the only recipients of food stamps. Of Gingrich's remark, an NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Jealous said: "It is a shame that the former Speaker feels that these types of inaccurate, divisive statements are in any way helpful to our country. The majority of people using food stamps are not African-American, and most people using food stamps have a job." Also it is important to note that whites receive 34.4% of all food stamps, and blacks receive 21.4%. Another member of the NAACP told CBS radio that Gingrich’s remarks "goes right to the heart of real racism -- that African Americans are lazy and don't want to work and depend entirely on handouts". Though both candidates didn’t intend to upset the black community these comments are still being investigated for generating such controversy.
What do you think, do you think these comments could be deemed racists or does the media and activist groups like the NAACP take it out of proportion? Also, do you think these controversial statements will impact their votes (especially voters that are of minorities)?
Article Website: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57354055-503544/naacp-leader-blasts-gingrichs-food-stamp-comment/
NAACP history: http://www.naacp.org/pages/naacp-history
I think that these comments could very well be deemed as racist. I think that it was not only inaccurate but completely rude that Newt Gingrich made the comment about African American using food stamps. I believe this to be racist because it's revealed that white people receive 34.4% of all food stamps compared to black who receive 21.4%. In addition, candidate Rick Santorum also stated a racist comment in which he said,“ I don‘t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money and provide for themselves and their families.” I think that this could be deemed racist as well because in fact most of the people who need public assistance in the United States are white. I believe that based on their racist comments these candidates will lose votes by voters that are of minorities. I think this to be true because their racial comments may be taken in a negative way and therefor they may look badly upon the candidates and decide against voting for them.
ReplyDeleteLooking at these comments, I agree with Cassandra that they can be deemed as racist. I think it's unfair that these candidates are aiming these towards one particular race and to blame people that are black that they can't provide for themselves without public assistance is just not right. Rick Santorum completely ignored the fact that a majority of white people are also struggling to provide for themselves and instead aims it at one race. The comment about the food stamps is also racist because black people aren't the only ones using food stamps to support themselves and that there's a 13% difference between the majority of black and white people who use them. These comments towards the black community will most likely make these candidates lose votes and lessen their chances of winning. I feel that if they really wanted to gain the votes of the citizens, they shouldn't have included comments only aimed at a particular race.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I do see these comments that Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum stated as racist. In my opinion they just assumed and based on their knowledge about racist actions and observations, they were led to say some things that offend African Americans and show that African Americans are very different than Caucasians. In the statement, Newt Gingrich talked about the food stamps and how African Americans used them more; he was wrong as more people who were Caucasian use food stamps rather than the African American. This shows his inaccurate statement and racism through the his assumption of thinking it was the other way around. Furthermore Rich Santorum stated that he wants to give more money opportunities as black people don't have as much. Even though this would give more opportunities, I view this as a racist comment because again by the assumption and misinterpretation of him thinking black people need more opportunities while data actually suggests that it is the other way around. Because of these comments people like myself and also many others will view them as racist and not vote for these candidates, making them have no chance for the presidency role.
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