Posted on 09/13/2009 7:45:10 PM PDT by reaganaut1
MEMPHIS — A Congressional race in Tennessee has become freighted with racial overtones almost a year before the election, with a prominent black politician saying the white incumbent cannot properly represent black voters.
The black candidate, former Mayor Willie W. Herenton of Memphis, has argued that Tennessee needs a black voice in its currently all-white delegation. He is running a blistering campaign against Representative Steve Cohen, a fellow Democrat with a precarious hold on the majority black district.
“To know Steve Cohen is to know that he really does not think very much of African-Americans,” Mr. Herenton said in a recent radio interview on KWAM. “He’s played the black community well.”
The primary election in August 2010 pits an unlikely officeholder — a Jew in a deeply Christian region, a middle-age white man known for fighting for blacks and women — against a prominent challenger. Already, the campaign has proved how deeply race still infuses much of politics in the South, even after the election of a black president.
The candidates are battling to represent the Ninth Congressional District, a low-income area that envelops Memphis and is more than 60 percent black. The district was redrawn and renumbered in 1973, increasing the percentage of minority voters, and for three decades it elected the state’s only black members of Congress since Reconstruction, Harold E. Ford Sr. and his son Harold E. Ford Jr.
But in 2006, Mr. Cohen defeated a divided field of black candidates. He coasted to re-election last year against a little-known black corporate lawyer.
The Herenton campaign argues that Mr. Cohen is an anomaly.
“This seat was set aside for people who look like me,” said Mr. Herenton’s campaign manager, Sidney Chism, a black county commissioner.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Tennessee ping
Yep, everything is about race in the dimoKKKRAT party these days. The race baiting is a sad thing to see.
Race pimping. How original.
Well we should start then because this sure as hell is not working one never gets respect playing nice.
LOL! YES!
Black parents who raise their kids to think like this are as bad as those KKK parents you used to see on shows like Geraldo who dressed their kids up in hoods.
I doubt TN needs a racist representing them in Congress.
ping
freighted? Never seen that usage before?
LOL. Two liberals fighting over who sucks more. Pass the popcorn, this is going to be fun. Memphis is a such a dump and it amazes me that the guy who helped make it such even has a shot at winning.
I’m not sure that a Black candidate is required to properly represent Black voters, but I’m certain that a criminal is imperative. A Black criminal: bingo, bango, bongo
Crap!!! I thought we were done with the race crap....It’s getting worse...Unintended consequences...
Willie better have a "compelling life story" if he's going to talk like that.
The Dim crackup continues. This one was predictable. Cohen won last time, but certain racists have been upset about him representing a majority black district the last couple of cycles.
Just maybe there actually will come a time when African Americans are confronted for racism.
Forget all the “if a white person did this ....”
It’s racism, period. Racism is bad. Claiming the ability or inability to represent people based on skin color is evil.
The post racial era. Obama promised it. Laws have mussy.
So Blacks aren't chr*stians? Well, that explains the political positions.
Actually, Cohen did quite well in the ‘08 Dem primary. Cohen’s main problem, however, is that he is a true-believing Socialist (he prided himself on being THE singlemost leftist member of the legislature for the nearly 3 decades he served), and he is well to the left of his Black district (Junior Ford was not the most liberal member of the TN delegation, and often veered towards the center). King Willie Herenton actually would vote to the right of Cohen, and has actually endorsed Republicans as Mayor of Memphis. However, his playing the race card as heavy-handedly as he is is only likely to backfire. Nikki Tinker, who was expected to defeat Cohen in his reelection, did the same thing as Herenton did in ‘08, and she crashed and burned. I think Cohen will be renominated barring a real mishap on his end. If the Dems put up a non-threatening Black candidate not openly exploiting the race card, a “moderate liberal”, Cohen would then be in trouble.
MLK talked about character as opposed to skin color. I am a middle aged white male and have been living the racial issue all my life. Grow the faq up and take responsibility for your actions and quite calling up the color of your skin. If you can't hack it in the real world STFU and admit it, work harder to make something of yourself, don;t accept a free ride, because eventually the ride has to end. Quit blaming everyone else for your lazy ass attitude.
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