GOP Rep. Behind "Great White Hope" Remark Voted For Bill With Same Phrase

Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.) took a bit of heat a few weeks ago for suggesting the GOP needed a "great white hope" to take on President Barack Obama in the next election.

The Kansas Republican backtracked from her remarks soon thereafter, insisting that she hadn't really understood the racial implications of the statement.

Alas, The Ottawa (Kans.) Herald finds one reason to doubt Jenkins's excuse. A month ago, the freshman lawmaker supported a resolution that included the very phrase "great white hope" in a historical context that made clear its origin.

In late July, the House of Representatives passed, by unanimous consent, a measure urging the president to pardon heavyweight champion boxer Jack Johnson, whose career brought him success in the ring and racist vitriol outside of it. Included in the resolution, which passed on July 29, was the following phrase:

"Whereas the victory by Jack Johnson over Tommy Burns prompted a search for a White boxer who could beat Jack Johnson, a recruitment effort that was dubbed the search for the 'great white hope.'"

For sports historical junkies: Johnson had to wait years to get a shot at the heavyweight title, because the top-ranked white boxers refused to fight him. Once he got the chance and defeated Burns, the boxing world went on a frantic search to find the "great white hope" to take back the title.

As Media Matters Action Network points out, one of those "great white hopes" was a boxer named Jess Willard, who actually lived just 27 miles from Jenkins' hometown of Holton, Kansas.

Johnson's fall would ultimately come when he took the gloves off. The target of racist violence, he was convicted in 1913 of violating the Mann Act against "transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes."

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Comments

[champions1]

08:36 PM on 09/02/2009

i ventured over to AOL....yikes what a bunch on nuggets....you were right caps on everything....just plain ignorance folks. Sorry to say and see what has happened to America since Raygun and The Bush Brother's took over Education, and lets not leave out that lesbian love writer Lynn c h ene y....my friends a I have always wonderered....how do you write a love novel about lesbians if you are not one...interesting...how would you know about their love making and such...this probably won't get published but i feel better for writing it.....i do have many gay and lesb friends ....so i am not knocking them, just wonder ing about l Y NN...

[champions1]

08:25 PM on 09/02/2009

looks like she has been mushroomed.....

[moneyman1]

06:01 PM on 09/02/2009

Here's hoping Congresswoman Jenkins uses her taxpayer provided healthcare that most normal people probably can't afford...... and goes out to the plastic surgeons and gets her honker redone and then uses her new found enhanced appearance to push for racial equality in Kansas.

[ilse]

05:44 PM on 09/02/2009

Whenever aol has an article about President Obama or the Public Healthcare Plan, the comments board is swarming with right wing teabaggers who spew hate and racist remarks. When there were articles on Ted Kennedys death, they also attacked him. For the past month, the right wing teabaggers have been taking shifts on aol and have done nothing but badmouth President Obama and the Public Healthcare plan. What bothers me is there are others who are not part of the rightwing teabaggers and see nothing but negative comments and might think the majority really feel that way..Anyone who has time, please go to aol articles about President Obama and Healthcare and let your voices be heard. Let them know you support President Obama and let them know you want a Public Healthcare Plan.

[alohaz]

06:09 PM on 09/02/2009

The teabaggers go to AOl? That's a commentary all in itself. They only use caps in their text I assume to compensate for a lack of substance. I would love to go over there in swarms, but as Frank said, it's like having a discussion with the dining room table.

[K M D]

06:15 PM on 09/02/2009

They probably still think AOL IS the internet.

-.-

[alohaz]

06:16 PM on 09/02/2009

You know how to spot a birthbagger? When you see this at the end of their comment !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For example: NOBAMA IS A HYPOCRITICUL, SAUDI BOWING COMMUNISTISTISIST WHO IS GOING TO DESTROY THE UNIVERRSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[greenriverkate]

05:03 PM on 09/02/2009

OMG is ignorance the call for a Republican?

[iluvwhtchix]

03:36 PM on 09/02/2009

This lady looks like a worse version of Katie Couric in this photo.

[rmjagg]

02:19 PM on 09/02/2009

she looks like an arab

[claypoint2]

12:23 PM on 09/02/2009

Her nose looks like a body part she shouldn't have if she's a woman.

[regularmess]

11:34 AM on 09/02/2009

Yeah, b.c "Great White Hope" doesn't sound like it has any racial implications, right? Jack Johnson died in a tragic car wreck in North Carolina, R.I.P. The repubs look like there in a career demolition derby. I wonder when their careers will begin to lose the fight?

Give this story a six-minute read [ http://thehappeningstory.blogspot.com/ ]. Unrelated but fascinating.

[ProudMilVet]

03:06 AM on 09/02/2009

Ah, cha cha cha cha !

[ProudMilVet]

03:05 AM on 09/02/2009

"The old Schnozzola"

[ProudMilVet]

03:04 AM on 09/02/2009

"Goodnight Mrs. Calibash, where ever you are"

[ProudMilVet]

03:02 AM on 09/02/2009

"I got a million of em" !

[ProudMilVet]

03:01 AM on 09/02/2009

"That ain't no banana, that's my nose !!

[ProudMilVet]

02:58 AM on 09/02/2009

I heard this joke as a kid. This Lady had such a big nose that one night as she rolled over in her sleep, her nose got caught in her ear & she sneezed & blew her brains out !