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Posted on 01/08/2003 12:17:20 PM PST by Bella_Bru
7 January 2003
Members of the Board of Directors
California Republican Party
via email
Dear Colleagues:
As many of us have learned in recent media reports, Vice Chairman Bill Back distributed an article entitled, "What if the South had Won the Civil War?", an article that concludes problems with race relations in America are the result of slaves being freed through Reconstruction, and black migration out of the south as a result of desegregation.
This article trivialized slavery and it trivialized the impacts of slavery on my ancestors and people of African decent. The notion that this country would be better off if my ancestors had remained enslaved, considered less than whole people is personally offensive, abhorrent and vile. It is particularly offensive because my own party's Vice Chairman distributed this bigoted propaganda in an official CRP newsletter.
Those of us in leadership positions have a responsibility to teach, raise awareness and encourage thoughtful debate. We also have a responsibility to do so in an honest and ethical manner. Had distribution of the article in question been prefaced by a disclaimer that the editors didn't necessarily agree with the author's views, however, felt the article had value for the debate it might create on federalism, I might have accepted the Vice Chairman's position in his 4th of January statement that his "newsletter is a forum for varying political discussion". As reported in the same day's Contra Costa Times, when asked several different times if he was offended by the article, Bill Back sidestepped the question and refused to answer. The lack of any such disclaimer or direct and honest response to the reporter can only lead me to one conclusion: that Bill Back is sympathetic to the author's views. Why else would he distribute an obscure article that has absolutely no relevance to California, nor to Republican politics in his official California Republican Party newsletter?
I am sick and tired of being embarrassed by elected Republican officials who have no sensitivity for issues that alienate whole segments of our population. Republican leaders who consort with the Council of Conservative Citizens, highlight stump speeches at Bob Jones University, reminisce about segregationist campaigns and sympathize with the bigoted views - and the very real possibility that others in our party affiliate with the Free Congress Foundation and groups with similar offensive ideology - perpetuate broad public opinion that Republicans harbor racist and bigoted ideals. Bill Back's conduct is the most current embarrassment to our party. His decision to distribute bigoted information demonstrates a lack of judgment and political acumen that's not appropriate for someone in a leadership position, especially as Vice Chairman of the California Republican Party.
This embarrassment is different for a black Republican. Not only do I have to sit in rooms and behave professionally towards Republicans who share this heinous ideology, I have to go home to a hostile environment where I'm called an "Uncle Tom" and maligned as a sell-out to my community because I'm a member of the Republican Party. When I go to the barbershop on Friday or my church on Sunday - wherever I go in the black community, I have to explain that Trent Lott's affiliation with the Council of Conservative Citizens doesn't represent all Republicans, that was just an isolated incident. When they then question me about the scores of Republicans who visit Bob Jones University, I tell them that Republicans visit black universities, too. When they ask how I can serve in a party where the second in command, the man seeking our top spot distributes bigoted literature, I tell them that Bill Back doesn't represent the grassroots of this party, he's just one man. Black Republicans are expected to provide window dressing and cover to prove that this is not a racist party, yet our own leadership continues to act otherwise. People judge people by their experience of them, by their actions and when those actions do not match one's words, actions become the more honest means by which to measure a person.
I don't talk about what it's like for me to be a black Republican, and what I live through day to day because I've made a choice to be true to and fight for my beliefs. But I think the time has come for those of you in this party to understand what I encounter from other Republicans. Maybe it will help you understand how hard this fight really is - and how insurmountable the ill-conceived actions of Republican leaders like Bill Back make it.
When I travel to speak at Republican conferences and events around the country, wandering through hotels, convention centers and social clubs, as I approach the rooms where I'm scheduled to speak, I am often told by Republicans that I must be in the wrong place. While boarding a shuttle bus to a national convention a few years ago, an attendee who was already on the bus introduced himself to another white guest who was boarding, took one look at me and, in an attempt to be helpful, told me I was on the wrong bus. As a Bush delegate at the 2000 convention in Philadelphia, I proudly wore my delegate's badge and RNC lapel pin as I worked the convention. Regardless of the fact that I was obviously a delegate prominently displaying my credentials, no less than six times did white delegates dismissively tell me fetch them a taxi or carry their luggage. Imagine how our Republican women would have felt if they had been mistaken for hotel maids. These people didn't see that I wasn't wearing a uniform; all they saw was a black face and made an assumption.
I am a proud Republican, one who has traveled this great country from Harlem to Honolulu to promote the Republican message. I've campaigned from Inyo to Siskiyou: wherever I've been asked to go, I've shown up for this Party, speaking to literally thousands of groups. And through it all, I've met thousands upon thousands of grassroots volunteers who have welcomed me, given me good advice, prayers, love and support. They've taught me a lot, and I've always been grateful for their support. No one has treated me better than Thaddeus Taylor, Inyo County Chairman, who opened his home and treated me with such love. This is not another inter-party squabble, moderates versus conservatives, rural versus urban. There are grassroots Republicans for whom the principles of inclusion and the big tent are an intrinsic part of their very fiber. All is not lost in this Party, but leadership is the problem. There is a prevalent insensitivity within this Party's leadership regarding issues that are important or hurtful to the African American community in general. We can not continue to elect leaders who have no regard for all of the people. President George W. Bush is the leader of this Party and upon his election, he sent out a call for the best and the brightest talent to fill his administration. Through his efforts - in word and in deed - he now has the most diverse Administration in American history. President Bush has set the example; it is up to the California Republican Party to follow.
Of the more than five hundred CRP recipients of the newsletter in question, not one party member was sensitive enough to recognize and question the offensive nature of the material, much less do what should have been done: call for his censure. Subsequently, Bill Back was elevated by the membership from Regional Vice Chairman to statewide Vice Chairman in the next CRP election, and he currently seeks the chairmanship. I have never called Bill Back a bigot or racist, but I condemn his distribution of bigoted propaganda in his official CRP newsletter. Bill Back can not, under any circumstances, be bestowed with the honor of serving as Chairman of the California Republican Party. I have not and will not endorse any candidate for Chairman in this race, eliminating any perceived political motivation for this letter. If anointed CRP Chairman, Bill Back's actions give the Democrats a two-year run in defining our Party as one led by someone who sympathizes with bigoted views, which will be damaging to our President as we approach the 2004 election. It would further compromise California's elected Republicans in any matter where race is relevant, and hang like an albatross around the necks of future Republican candidates, a burden they don't deserve to bear. If the CRP elects Bill Back as Chairman, then the party in effect endorses his actions of distributing bigoted propaganda. Such an endorsement would take the CRP beyond the point of repair with voters in a pluralistic state - where ethnic populations comprise our majority - and doom us to irrelevance.
As Secretary of the California Republican Party and a fourteen-year conservative Republican activist, I call upon Bill Back to withdraw his candidacy from this and any future leadership race of the California Republican Party, and call upon you, my fellow members of the California Republican Party to contact Bill Back immediately and urge him to withdraw his candidacy.
Yours truly,
Shannon F. Reeves
Secretary of the Board
As a side issue, I would like to ask all the people who think this is no big deal, how hard is it for you to be a Republican?
Does your family call you names? Do your neighbors call you a sell-out? Are you constantly ignored at party meetings or conventions because clueless nitwits think you are at the wrong place, or are hired help?
Personally, I think minorities who stick with the GOP despite such stupid behavior by some of our members should be appreciated for the dedicated people that they are, and I would rather have more people like Shannon Reeves and less people like Bill Back.
I am sick and tired of being embarrassed by elected Republican officials who have no sensitivity for issues that alienate whole segments of our population.
Me too.
This ass-clown distributes, through an official party publication, an article entitled: "What If The South Had Won The Civil War?" Now, look. I don't even need to read the damn article to surmise that it's probably gonna contain some fairly controversial topics. I should probably read it to make sure there's nothing in there that might be offensive.
And I should probably stop and ask myself if the damn thing is even relevant to California Republican politics.
The issue isn't necessarily whether the guy is racist. It's does he have the requisite sensitivity and discernment to be an effective leader of a party that needs to reach out and attract more minority support.
Would someone explain to me what is so damn important about speaking at BJU that Republicans must do so? That is one of the few truly boneheaded moves Bush made during the primary campaign; only the fact that Gore made many, many more boneheaded mistakes, and did so on national TV, allowed Bush to get away with it.
Bashing Kwanzaa (a made up holiday by a leftist black nationalist) and Ebonics (a somewhat crippled dialect encouraged by multiculturalists) is part and parcel of being culturally conservative.
Nonsense! He can't just act as if the media and the Democrats don't exist, and that he can ignore them! As a spokesman for the party, he's public property! He's supposed to be able to answer those questions regardless of who asks!
By the way, re your reference to Robert Bork: did you note what Freeper "borkrules" says on this thread?
Exposing them, yes. Being dismissive of them, yes. If what you mean by "bashing" is being deliberately offensive, no. Then you're just being an idiot.
Hear, hear, well spoken!
Some folks here have a disturbing tendency to be completely out to lunch when it comes to political realities. We've got serious, contested, electoral battles to win before we ever get to the point where we can implement conservative policy solutions that will reverse our slide. This kind of bombastic "eff 'em if they can't take a joke" mentality is NOT helping.
Perhaps you could learn to write more clearly.
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