>>> welcome back to the ed show. if you were busy spending time with family this weekend, you may have missed the brief end of racism. thats right. its all over. thats right. the republican national committee experts on minority outreach practiematurely declared the struggle was over in a tweet sent out on saturday. the message was meant to commemorate the 58th anniversary of rosa parks arrest for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. the tweet read, today we remember rosa parks bold stand in her role in ending racism. ending racism? theres nothing controversial about paying tribute to rosa parks. and the role she played in the civil rights movement in this country. but as you can imagine, many americans were surprised to hear racism was all over. the tweet sent off a firestorm online. maybe the backlash has something to do with the fact that this is still happening in america. >> set up near a mitt romney for president sign was a chair empty, except for two water melons, a rope tied into an apparent noose with a sign set up to look like a teleprompter that read, go back to kenya. >> the sign in front of the georgia peach oyster bar says they dont support barack obama and the white house but uses the n word. >> the neighbor put a sign in his yard that uses the n word and claims it was directed at them. >> in an e-mail sent to an unknown number of officials, marlin davenport sent this photo, along with the phrase, now you know why no birth certificate. >> the rnc clarified its tweet saying previous tweet should have said today we remember rosa parks bold stand and her role in fighting to end racism. joining me now in our rapid response panel, political analyst dr. mike he eric dyson, the grio contributor, zerlina maxwell. great to have you with us tonight. dr. dyson, you first. you are a respected person in the black community all across this country, revered by many. and people look to you for leadership on a number of different issues. i would like to know, do you know what the republican minority outreach program is? >> brother ed, i cant fathom that. they gave themselves an autopsy to suggest they ought to have an outreach, and yet undercut themselves at every turn. and this kind of inadvertent mistake here only underscores their lack of awareness of and sensitivity toward african- american people and interests. and, by the way, racism is not merely expressed in these overt kinds of expressions. but in the very subtle ways in which the republican party has refused to acknowledge the humanity, the far right wing, i should say -- the humanity of our president, and the ways in which policies that dont not only benefit african- american people, but actively resist their presence in the larger circle of american privilege. all of these things are quite problematic. and i dont think theyre really sensitive to those kind of issues. >> dr. dyson, are you aware of the republicans and their minority outreach reaching out to any black leerds in america youre aware of? >> not that im aware of. i havent heard a single one. >> zerlina, is this a case of not choosing words carefully or the republican national committee terribly naive about it all and not genuine about any of it? >> i want to give them the benefit of the doubt that this is probably a social media person who chose their words poorly. but it became a story, because of the larger narrative and the problem with race of the gop has had all throughout the obama presidency. i thought over the weekend about the march on washington. ingmar tin luther king would be surprised to learn that racism ended in 1955, before the march on washington or congressman john lewis, beaten in 1961. he would be surprised to learn that racism ended before the freedom rides. i think that the republican party, the problem they have is not just like mike he mentioned, the overt forms of racism, but the larger narrative and that connection to policy initiative. so when you call the president the food stamp president. or you oppose affirmative action. these are all things that lead to the narrative that the republican party has a problem with race. that they really need to work on. >> i think it should be pointed out that not one republican spoke at the march on washington this summer. and they were invited. >> right. >> and they chose not to show up. and, you know, ever since president obama has been elected, republicans liked to, as you say, push this narrative that we live in some sort of post racial society. they use it to justify their attack on voting rights. dr. dyson, anybody buying it? >> nobody is buying it, and the selling of it has been pretty poor. the reality is that the persistence of racial inequality suggests that the republicans would have to do a lot of soul searching. first of all, you cant, you know, present images of barack obama, president obama, as they have done, so viciously on the far right wing. and then the republicans have not been quick to repute pud ate that kind of thing and suggest in place of this vitriolic attention to racial matters theyre willing to open up the doors, the flood gate of not only compassion, but as zerlina has indicated, of public policies that benefit and at least strengthen these african-american and latino communities. if youre not willing to deal with the issues of immigration, of affirmative action, of reform of our housing markets, then youre not really serious about the issues of race in america. >> well, what i find interesting politically about the republicans here is they dont have any point person that is going to get a lot of media attention, and focus on minority outreach. and research and clarification. they dont have a go-to person on this, which tells me that certainly theyre not genuine about it at all. now, in may 2013 survey done by the pew research center found that 88% of african- americans and 57% of whites felt that there is at least some discrimination towards african- americans. are things getting better, or are they getting worse, zerlina? >> i dont think theyre getting better. i wouldnt say that we are where we were in 1955. of course thats not true. but i think there are a number of different things. as michael pointed out, there are pervasive problems that exist in our society. you know, outcomes are not equal for people of color. when you are born, the zip code in which you are born predetermines where you are -- what socioeconomic class you can end up in, and that is largely because of the structural inequality that impacts black and brown people. and so i think that until the republican party wakes up and smells the coffee, they are going to have these problems persist, because theyre not willing to acknowledge that racism exists, which is why this tweet was a problem for them. and so theyre not going to put forth any policies that actually work to solve these problems. >> yeah, well, another issue, and, of course, we talk about it a lot on this program is obama care and health care, the affordable care act. a large number of minorities in this country are going to be helped by this law. and they have been so terribly opposed to it, dr. dyson. how can they run any kind of minority outreach if they are opposed and voted 40 some odd times in the house to take away health care from people who are going to get it who happen to be minorities, yet theyve got this big outreach thing going on? >> youre so right in terms of pointing out the conflicts and the contradictions. and you have been valiant on this show in underscoring how fast are you contradictory they are. if you claim you want to have an outreach and against the affordable health care act and opposed to the expansion of pell grants. and furthermore, you have dealt with financial instruments that have undermind african- american peoples ability to engage in the procurement of adequate housing for themselves. and youve been against every measure of affirmative action and educational equity that might provide us equal footing. so in that case, its much ado about nothing. its a lot of talk. as james brown said, youre talking loud and saying nothing. >> zerlina, how aggressive should the white house be on the heels of this website, massingive provement meeting the date? >> very aggressive. as a person uninsured and has been on the new york exchange, i think that people that are uninsured have a great deal of patience. and the white house should exploit that patience. because people that are uninsured want health insurance. and thats why the traffic is so high. i think they need to be very aggressive here and say the website is getting better and better and people are going to fundamentally -- their lives are going to change. >> time for the offense. no doubt about it. michael eric dyson, sgher lena maxwell, thanks for being on the ed show. appreciate it. >>> coming up, a north dakota local news station keeps it
Posted on: Wed, 04 Dec 2013 07:05:24 +0000
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