Posted on 10/01/2005 12:21:18 PM PDT by SmithL
NASHVILLE - An NAACP official on Friday urged Tennessee Republicans to censure Knoxville's state Rep. Stacey Campfield and demand his resignation as a lawmaker because he compared the Legislature's Black Caucus to the Ku Klux Klan.
Campfield, a white Republican legislator who has found himself a subject of national attention after being told he cannot join the Black Caucus, said his remarks have been misinterpreted and that he sees no reason to resign.
The latest round began with a letter sent to state Republican Chairman Bob Davis by Nashville NAACP President Arnett H. Bodenhamer, declaring that his organization is "incensed" that Campfield "made comments comparing the Legislative Black Caucus to the Ku Klux Klan."
"Given the Tennessee Republican Party's mission of equality and tolerance, I am sure you are equally disturbed by Rep. Campfield's position," Bodenhamer wrote.
"With this in mind, I am writing to request that you and your Executive Committee immediately convene a special meeting to censure Rep. Campfield and demand his resignation from the General Assembly."
When initially contacted about the letter, Davis said he had not seen it but indicated surprise because an NAACP representative had met with him a day earlier about the party's participation in "a gala about the Voting Rights Act" and "didn't say a word" about the Campfield issue.
Later in the day, Davis provided the media with a copy of his five-sentence reply letter to Bodenhamer but offered no further comment.
"The Tennessee Republican Party does not endorse racism or racist comments in any form or fashion," the letter states. "Our party was founded by President Abraham Lincoln who taught us that prejudice and bigotry have no place in our nation.
"I have been informed that Rep. Campfield has apologized for any misunderstanding and I trust that he will uphold our party's beliefs."
Chris Devaney, executive director of the state GOP, said he did not want to comment beyond the letter but indicated there are no plans to call for a special meeting of the state GOP Executive Committee to seek a censure or Campfield's resignation.
"We're going to take the man at his word and leave it at that," said Devaney. "I think if the man apologized over a misunderstanding, there is no need for a special meeting."
Campfield issued a statement late Friday declaring that "comments I have made in recent days have unfortunately been misunderstood, and for that misunderstanding, I apologize."
In an interview prior to the statement and before he had conferred with party officials, Campfield said he was "not intending in any way, shape, form or fashion to compare the Black Caucus to the KKK."
"The Black Caucus has done nothing even close to the terrible atrocities that the KKK has done the lynchings and cross burnings and things like that," he said.
Instead, he said the bylaws of the Black Caucus - not the organization itself - are comparable to the Ku Klux Klan because they limit membership to a single race. A copy of Black Caucus bylaws provided to a reporter state that membership is for black legislators.
"I was talking to their bylaws being racist, not that they as a group are racist," Campfield said. "I still think the bylaws are racist, and I stand by that statement.
"I could not join because I am white," he said. "I think that is the definition of racist when you define someone by the color of their skin rather than their character."
Campfield said he found Bodenhamer's letter to Davis ironic because the NAACP "supports inclusion and toleration" and allows whites to become members.
"If they think I should resign because I'm trying to be inclusive and help minorities, I just find that ludicrous," he said. "They're trying to stop me from helping minorities.
"I do not plan on resigning. I think, if anything, we need to push forward and break down the walls of separation that divide us," he said.
...state Rep. Stacey Campfield and demand his resignation as a lawmaker because he compared the Legislature's Black Caucus to the Ku Klux Klan...
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The members of the Black Caucus are some of the most, if not THE MOST, racist people in this country. Professional troublmaking racists of the worst order. They should have really been compared to a mix between the ACLU and the NAACP. That would have been more accurate...
The NAALCP (that's a Rushism for those of you in Rio Linda) strikes again......"I could not join because I am white," he said. "I think that is the definition of racist when you define someone by the color of their skin rather than their character."
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Could this be the old "do as I say, not do as I do!!" game the NAACP/Black caucus is playing here? Seems to me if those clowns don't want any one else's help in solving the problems they always seem to have, then they would welcome this guy with open arms! I think it is really funny as everything when they start screaming "RACIST" at the least provocation, when they, THEMSELVES, are the biggest bunch of racists going. They don't have any shame about it either, and continue to be the joke of the century. Is it any wonder they are being laughed at by their own folks? The NAACP is as useless today as a screen door on a submarine!!
IMHO, the NAALCP is a Racist Organization, as is, any tool of the Democratic National Committee
...How many Black Americans sit on the DNC?...NONE
...What % of the Black Community votes for the Dems?...88+%
...Is it reflected in the # of seat @ the DNC as a % of whole number of Dems?...NO...not a One....Well???? >crickets<
Therefore the DNC is a Racist Organization
Whatever happened to freedom of speech?
...How many Black Americans sit on the DNC?...NONE
Not only that, the chair is from the whitest state in the Union, Vermont. (EEEEYAAAAAH!!!!)
"Quote"
Ouch! This fellow, really must have hit a nerve...
IMHO, the NAALCP is a Racist Organization, as is, any tool of the Democratic National Committee
...How many Black Americans sit on the DNC?...NONE
...What % of the Black Community votes for the Dems?...88+%
...Is it reflected in the # of seat @ the DNC as a % of whole number of Dems?...NO...not a One....Well???? >crickets<
Therefore the DNC is a Racist Organization
"end Quote"
Dammit, your logic is making trool heads explode.
what you said...yep. But is it racist to point out racism?
Only to the NAALCP.
I wonder what the blacks would say if a 'White Congressional Caucus' was started, and it was only for white people?
"If a group of brave students decided to attempt this creation of a White Student Union under the Council of Ethnic Organizations, I would be the first one up in arms, disrupting their planning meetings and marching at their programs with a couple of vatos locos from the `hood. The mere idea is enough for me to feel threatened and gather up soldiers for future battles."
Hell, the NAACP has done far more damage to the black citizens in America than the KKK could ever have dreamed of accomplishing....
The plantation black, dependent on the handouts from his Liberal Democratic congress critter "master", is still alive, poor, ignorant and 70% bastard born and bred in the NAACP/DNC paradise plantation...
Semper Fi
Do you know who protested this the most and got it shut down, before it could get started?
No. Who?
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