Here’s something the media won’t cover.
it’s rare that the establishment media covers a story showing leftists behaving as racists. After all, they can’t publish stories that conflict with their narrative, right? That’s why the media isn’t talking about the racist flyer that Doug Jones’ campaign sent to black voters in Alabama.
The left has been highly effective when it comes to labeling conservatives as racists. The establishment media’s willingness to ignore examples of racism on the left only helps them maintain the illusion.
THE JONES CAMPAIGN ISSUES A RACIST FLYER
Doug Jones, Alabama’s Democratic senatorial candidate, began circulating a flyer designed to appeal to black voters. The flyer featured a picture of a black man with the words, “Think if a black man went after high school girls anyone would try to make him a senator?”
The flyer was a blatant attempt to use race-baiting to earn the black vote. Unfortunately for Jones, it appears this strategy has backfired. Kenneth Dukes, a pastor, told Newsweek, “To be comparing any black person to the mind and history of a Roy Moore is insulting.”
People also took to Twitter to express their disapproval. “Sometimes when you try to target voters of a particular race and show how not racist you are, you end up being incredibly racist,” one user tweeted.
The harshest criticism came from Michael Harriot, a liberal author for The Root:
“Someone, probably a white man, thought that the image would resonate with black people and motivate them to get out the vote. It’s as if black people were considering voting for the child molester until some brilliant strategist posited, ‘What if he were black, though?’ The flyer is reductive in its oversimplification of the black mind as only caring about black issues. While it might not be racist, it is certainly racist adjacent.”
Harriot is right — the Jones campaign’s flyer was condescending and ignorant. It reflects the left’s view that black Americans only see issues through the lens of race. Sure, some blacks do have an extreme obsession with race — but the majority do not. Unfortunately, Jones’ flyer isn’t the only example of racism on the left.
OTHER EXAMPLES OF RACISM ON THE LEFT EXIST
The story about the flyer reminded me of an incident that occurred in my home state, California. In 2009, Harry Alford, the head of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, interacted with Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA). Alford, a black Republican, was discussing climate change legislation during a hearing. At the time, Boxer was the chairperson of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and she favored the legislation while Alford opposed it.
Their back-and-forth was cordial — until Boxer decided to bring race into the conversation. At one point in their exchange, the senator rebutted one of Alford’s points by bringing up a resolution passed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) that agreed with her stance.
You can see the problem here, right?
Alford questioned her reasons for bringing up the NAACP, asking what she meant by quoting the organization. To make matters worse, she went on to also quote John Grant, who was the CEO of 100 Black Men of Atlanta. The implication was clear: “Other black groups agree with me. You should fall in line.”
Alford was understandably incensed. “Madam Chair, that is condescending to me,” he said. “I’m the National Black Chamber of Commerce and you’re trying to put up some other black group to pit against me.”
But that’s not all.
Remember when former Vice President Joe Biden was campaigning for President Barack Obama’s reelection in 2012? During a speech in southern Virginia, Biden addressed an audience made up primarily of black Americans. When discussing Romney’s approach to regulations, Biden emphatically stated that the Republicans were going to “put y’all back in chains.”
Naturally, the Obama campaign downplayed Biden’s remarks, and the establishment media wouldn’t dare to take the Vice President to task for his poorly-chosen words. Apparently, using a slavery metaphor in a political speech to black Americans was just fine.
THE MYTH OF THE TOLERANT LEFT
The Democratic Party has done a great job of branding themselves as the party of tolerance and acceptance. They have convinced many minorities that they are the party who will save them from the big, bad, bigoted boogeymen of the GOP. However, if one looks more closely, they will see that the left also has its issues
In his piece, Harriot describes the Democrats’ penchant for pandering to black voters by only discussing “black issues.” “On the rare occasions when the Democratic Party does address black voters, it only talks about the “black issues”: policing, mass incarceration, civil rights, etc.,” he writes. “For the party leadership, black people aren’t whole people who have the same concerns about taxes, job creation, education initiatives, international policy and economics as other voters.”
IS THE LEFT RACIST?
I do not believe that the left’s tendency to look down on blacks and other minorities is intentional. Indeed, like other Americans (including Republicans), much of their displays of racism are not done deliberately.
To be clear, I also don’t believe that Barbara Boxer, Doug Jones, or Joe Biden are racists. These incidents are examples of politicians making racialized statements to make a point without understanding the connotations of their remarks. The term “microaggression,” — a leftist favorite — would be the most accurate way to describe their comments.
Many on the left are guilty of the same behaviors for which they criticize their political opponents. The only difference is that the left is better at hiding their biases — and they have an ally in the media, who glosses over any racial missteps a leftist politician makes. Nevertheless, they cannot hide their prejudices completely, and it seems minorities are beginning to see it.
Both sides would do well to ascribe positive motives to those with whom they disagree, but when it comes to race, it’s the left that needs to step up in this area. They constantly use false accusations of racism to discredit their political opponents, even though many individuals on their side engage in the same type of behavior.
If people on the left stopped using the word “racist” as a political weapon, it would be easier for Americans to return to civil political discourse. Unfortunately, many leftists are more concerned with scoring cheap political points than they are with promoting productive dialogue.
This article was originally published at LibertyNation.com.