Posted on 03/07/2005 6:23:14 PM PST by mhking
The College Republicans at Maine's Bowdoin College invited former US Congressional candidate and current Republican Winston-Salem (NC) City Councilman Vernon Johnson to campus as part of their observance of Black History Month. They weren't ready for the firestorm that followed.
The co-president of Bowdoin's College Democrats, Alex Cornell du Houx, appeared on Monday's Michael Medved Show to defend his statements as published in the Bowdoin Orient.
Many found the rhetoric put forward by the College Republicans offensive and unwarranted. The claim, taken from Vernon Robinson's website, that "The Only Thing he has in Common with Jesse Jackson is a good TAN," [sic] which was used in the digest, was both divisive and offensive to many.Also appearing on Medved's show was black Bowdoin student William Gilchrist, who was far more venomous in his letter to the Orient's editorial pages.
Bowdoin College Republicans displayed their lack of openness by inviting an outright "Uncle Tom" to speak during Black History Month. Any black speaker who refers to the Confederate flag as a "harmless display" is a man who has clearly never read a history book.Gilchrist, in defending his use of the "Uncle Tom" slur to describe Robinson not only plays into the stereotype of a monolithic school of black American thought, he actually creates more of the dissention that he and the College Democrats on Bowdoin's campus claim to want to avoid.
Gilchrist also took issue with Robinson's description Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton as "poverty pimps" who hustle the black community to their ends. Robinson is not the only black conservative to use such colorful metaphors to describe Jackson and Sharpton. Many -- myself included -- have used the same term ("poverty pimps") in the same context as Robinson on multiple occasions. But I guess such politically incorrect and frank language offended Gilchrist's sensibilities.
Gilchrist's insistence that Robinson is an "Uncle Tom" who "clearly has never read a history book" belies Robinson's own past as noted on his campaign site.
The son of a Tuskegee Airman and a nurse, I became an Eagle Scout before graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy with a B.S. in Middle Eastern Affairs and the University of Missouri with an M.B.A.That doesn't sound like someone who has forgotten where he's from or what he stands for.I earned the confidence of the voters and national conservative leaders the same way Jesse Helms and Ronald Reagan did - by being willing to stand up for my traditional American conservative principles - no matter what the political cost and no matter what the liberal media try to say about me.
I don't head for the high grass when the Left turns up the political heat. That's just not my style. Indeed, I relish the fiery furnace.
Several questions come to mind when reading the letters in the Bowdoin campus newspaper and listening to the students on Medved's show:
People like du Houx and his College Democrats remind me of some white liberal callers I used to get on my radio show.
- What gives them (the College Democrats and others) the right to determine who the College Republicans invite to speak at their campus functions, whether they are black conservatives like Robinson or other conservative speakers (author and columnist Ann Coulter, whose appearances at other campuses are the target of liberals seeking to ban conservative speakers, immediately comes to mind)?
- Why do Gilchrist and others of his mindset insist that those blacks whose ideologies are not exactly as theirs are "not really black?"
- Why is it OK for confrontational and controversial left wing speakers like Michael Moore and Ward Chuchill to speak on college campuses, yet right wing speakers who are potentially as confrontational and controversial, like Robinson, Coulter, Ward Connerly or David Horowitz are the target of smear campaigns and attempts to have their appearances disrupted or cancelled?
After listening to me and my views awhile, the would call and incredulously ask, "How dare you say the things you do, after all we have done for you!"
And I would answer, "Done for me? Done for me? I don't know you! And you certainly haven't done a damn thing for me but patronize me."
Usually the next thing those callers would hear is a dial-tone.
Robinson's appearance before the College Republicans at Bowdoin was certainly constructive, as are speeches and appearances by black conservatives across the nation. They show that black America is not a simple monolith, but a complex community, not unlike the rest of America. One with diverse views and ideologies and opinions. And they show that we are not the "bad guys" that Gilchrist and others like him want to portray us as. We have an equal stake in black America and in the rest of the nation.
We are proud of who we are. And we want to make a difference for our homes, our communities and our nation.
I guess HK will never be speaking there *LOL* He'll have a stroke!
ROTFL!!! How's she healing up anyway and does she ever read FR?
I yelled back at my wife (she was in the back seat today - long story, don't ask), "I've called 'em that in columns I've written before. What's the problem?"
She just laughed.
Correct! It's just selective history. They want to hear the same old rehash served again.
rofl the truth hurts! And some tinfoil hat dem might believe you! They would lose a vote!
Pretty well. The memory lapses have gotten fewer and much further between.
She still slows down dramatically by the end of the day, and is still having to use a cane to get around with, though she seems to be better on that note as well.
She'll probably go to the chiropractor next week. And the neurologist's appointment isn't until the end of the month or so. At least she's back at work.
Only issue now is dealing with the insurance company and the lawyers.
And no, she doesn't read FR -- I usually share the more interesting stories and responses with her.
Okay, I can see coconut wouldn't be so good.
He is a grandstander, nothing more.
Thanks for psoting this
The Progressive Socialist liberal Democratic party wonders why the black voter is leaving thier party, reverderations like this will ensure that the Exodus will continue to grow!
Bump!!!!
Another case of a fine young AA college student telling a conservative AA politician that he should know his place and remain in it. Sounds familiar. I was around in the era of the Civil Rights Act. How did the JJ's of the world hijack everything that was accomplished by the civil rights heroes?
Bump for the good news.
They should have invited Ward Churchill. Could have saved themselves a lot of controversy. What kinda decent black man goes around acting all conservative and acknowledges the symbols and cultures of other people. Somebody better get that dude back on the plantation!
Actually I have the greatest respect and admiration for Vernon Robinson, right up there with Booker T. Washington, Walter Williams, JC Watts, Rev. Jesse Peterson and my personal hero, HK Edgerton.
Oh my gosh, I just mentioned HK in another post before I was yours. I'd buy a ticket if HK would take this crowd on. If you've ever seen him give anyone a "what for" in his Southern gentleman manner, you know what I mean. What a jewel he is!
But did they know you were black in the column? That would lay the poor bedwetters up in the hopsital for at least a week.
And I won't ask why your wife was in the back seat....but could you FReepmail me? :-)) (just kidding)
LOL! That counts as "getting over"!
He is a grandstander, nothing more.
And Lurking2Long's problem is that he is a damned bigot. Whenever there's a thread about someone who is black, you come right along and spout some unsubstantiated nonsense.
You're a poseur, nothing more.
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