April 23, 2007

At Least Don Imus Didn’t Call Black Republicans ‘Moronic’

Don Imus’s slip of the lip created a media and racial outrage. He immediately acknowledged his mistake and apologized in person to the Rutgers women basketball team members. They accepted his apology with dignity and class.

John Sugg is Senior Editor of Creative Loafing, a limited distribution weekly paper based in Atlanta, Georgia. Sugg did not have a slip of the pen or a runaway keyboard when he referred to me and all black Republicans as moronic. Sugg wrote, “Being a black Republican is not only oxymoronic, it's simply plain old-fashioned moronic.” In the same article he also referred to me as a “sorry opportunist” and a “token,” because I chose to run as a Republican in the Georgia 2004 U.S. Senate primary election.

I ran as a Republican not because I am an opportunist, but because my political views are conservative.

I consider Sugg’s references to me and all black people insulting and ignorant. Mr. Sugg clearly exposes one of the main intellectual deficiencies of liberals. In the absence of facts or sound logic to defend their ideological opinions, they use name calling and racial slurs to discourage others from venturing off the Democratic plantation.

I am not looking for an apology from Mr. Sugg. And make no mistake about it, I do not need or want any of the race hustlers speaking for me and stirring the racial outrage. Millions of other black people like me are thinking and speaking for themselves.

What I would like to know from Mr. Sugg is how he arrived at such a choice of words for me and other black Republicans. Maybe he chose to ignore my academic credentials. Maybe my professional accomplishments during my business career were just moronic luck. Or, maybe my impressive second place finish in the 2004 Georgia Republican primary was a political fluke. Or just maybe the 172,000 people who voted for me did not know the color of my eyes, and that, according to Mr. Sugg, I was a moron, sorry opportunist and token.

Oh, and about the characterization of me as a token. Set aside for a moment Sugg’s abject racism in using that word. I would assume a “token” would already be elected to office, with the blessing and support of the political establishment. In my case, nothing could be further from the truth. The Georgia Republican Party did not ask me to run for the Senate nomination. Nor did I ask the state party for permission. I was not even the establishment’s choice. And when the race was over, where was the Georgia Republican Party? On the phone, asking me to help raise money for Republican candidates. Some token.

Ignorance is defined as the lack of knowledge of something or someone. Although the politically sensitive police discourage the use of the word ignorant in public forums, there are times when the watered down version, uninformed, is just not accurate enough. You make the call.

The bottom line is that liberal Democrats like Mr. Sugg can not deal with facts or solutions to issues, nor can they deal with honest and informed debate. So they resort to name calling. When that tactic does not work to further their cause, they resort to a disjointed and unrelated emotional tirade.

To paraphrase an old saying, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but don’t mess with my money.” Liberal Democrats have stolen money from taxpayers for decades with dysfunctional social programs, and they continue to steal black votes with factual deception and attempted verbal intimidation.

During the early half of the 1900s, Democrats discouraged black people from voting for Republicans with physical intimidation, including lynches by the Ku Klux Klan, a Democrat-inspired organization. Today, instead of a rope and a tree, Democrats try to deny black people from voting or running for office as Republicans using a keyboard and racially inspired media moments.

Name calling and emotional tirades will not help racial relations in this country. Poisonous partisan politics will not help solve the big issues we face. Many of those in elected office are in denial that the biggest problems even exist. Worse, perpetuating a divided nation under the guise of political differences of opinion will not help our fight against our biggest national security threat, Islamic fascism.

All persons in all aspects of media have a responsibility to inform and inspire people to make better decisions and better choices. When we make better choices we have better lives and a better nation. 

Slips, slants and slurs may endure for a while, but I believe there is a great awakening underway. Ignorance is not bliss forever.