GOP Leaders Won’t Acknowledge Party Racism Because They Don’t Have To

From primary to convention, GOP ducked substantive discussions of race and disparity

The views expressed in this Op-Ed do not necessarily reflect that of Loop 21.

The Republican Party can't be sexist or racist.

Did you see the line up at this week’s Republican National Convention? Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Mayor Mia Love of Saratoga Springs, Utah; New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez; Florida Sen. Marco Rubio; and even disillusioned Democratic Congressman Artur Davis got some primetime love!

That’s got to be the proof in the pudding that, despite weekly dispatches of racially insensitive remarks from the Republican presidential candidates during the six plus months of the primary season, black and Latino conservatives are right to see past the GOP’s penchant for hushing up offensive rhetoric, while dismissing all discussion of race relations as an attempt by Democrats to divide Americans.

I suppose they don’t have to address racism since over 90 percent of the party is white, according to the American National Election Studies. As many minorities have learned, whites seem to squirm at the prospect of in-depth deconstruction of racially charged topics, so why intentionally make your own people uncomfortable?

Perhaps that discomfort was evident in how quickly the RNC ejected the disgustingly racist convention attendees who hurled peanuts at CNN camerawoman Patricia Caroll, a black woman, while she was working at the Republican National Convention recently concluded in Tampa, Fla.

“This is how we feed animals,” the two culprits reportedly shouted.

The exchange didn’t surprise 34-year-old Caroll, who spoke exclusively to Journalism’s Richard Prince for his Thursday column.

“This is Florida, and I'm from the Deep South," she told Journalisms. "You come to places like this, you can count the black people on your hand. They see us doing things they don't think I should do."

RNCC official's addressed the incident and said the behavior would not be tolerated.

“This should be a wake-up call to black people… People were living in euphoria for a while. People think we're gone further than we have," Caroll added.

She might be wrong about one thing. Republicans clearly don’t think they are living in euphoria, if that’s what she’s implying.