Tea Party member and virulent birther, Marilyn Davenport of Orange County, California, had no idea that emailing a photo shopped picture depicting President Obama as an ape to her fellow Tea Partiers was racist. Noooooooo. The thought never crossed what passes as her mind. This woman is apparently so bereft of any common sense that she is clueless about the insulting dehumanization that African Americans have endured throughout our sorry racial history, and that one of the ways to humiliate this group was to compare them to subhumans.
Pointing out that George W. Bush was referred to as "Chimpy" isn't in any way, shape or form an equivalency. George W. Bush's race was never demonized and dehumanized to the point where people felt torturning and lynching a white citizen was justified because he dared speak to or look at a black woman. Members of George Bush's race never were told to sit at the back of the bus, or drink from separate fountains, nor were white children of tax-paying parents denied entrance into a tax supported state college because their skin was lily white. Referring to Dubya as Chimpy had nothing to do with his race, and everything to do with his incompetence. If Tea Party members don't understand the difference, then they need to read up on the history of racism in this country, pull their heads out of their collective anuses, and face their bigotry head on.
But back to this Orange County woman who defended her stupid email:
"This afternoon, Marilyn Davenport sent an email to fellow Orange County Republican elected officials, apologizing if anyone was offended by her depicting President Barack Obama as an ape--while also blasting the "liberal media" for reporting the story."
Notice that this contemptible woman didn't really apologize. Nowhere does she say she's sorry for acting like a foul hearted asshat. No. she apologizes IF anyone was offended by her depiction of President Obama as an ape--an image that white racists have used to demean and demoralize African Americans through our history. She's too lamebrained to understand this simple fact. And then, like all cowards, she blames the messenger for her atrocious idiocy.
"I simply found it amusing regarding the character of Obama and all the questions surrounding his origin of birth," Davenport wrote. "In no way did I even consider the fact he's half black when I sent out the email. In fact, the thought never entered my mind until one or two other people [Scott Baugh, Orange County GOP boss, and this writer] tried to make this about race. . . . I received plenty of emails about George Bush that I didn't particularly like yet there was no 'cry' in the media about them."
So she never considered the fact that President Obama is an African American when she sent out her humiliating email. This is because she is a stupid woman, too ignorant of this country's history to know when she is committing an egregious insult to a group of people who have had to endure the likes of her for centuries.
I'm sick of it all, but most assuredly sick of the jackasses--people like Davenport--who populate the Tea Party. I'm sick of them denying that this racism is a part of who they are and what they believe. It's part of what the Tea Party is, and it's blatant.
Finally, I'm sick of those who become indignant when they are confronted with the reality that the Tea Party has a HUGE streak of racism running down its spine.
It's wide, it's yellow, and it stinks.
5 comments:
"Pointing out that George W. Bush was referred to as "Chimpy" isn't in any way, shape or form an equivalency"
It's lame and juvenile, yes (and has much more to do with old-fashioned partisan hatred than it does with Bush's "incompetance"). But no way equivalent, as I believe you have argued quite well before.
I'm on a woman's mass mailing list, and I get a lot of Tea Party and conservative stuff from her. She's unfortunately in the wrong branch of conservatism, and has no problem enjoying and sharing racist emails (the last being one of the type showing only Obama's eyes and teeth on a black background). I criticize her on these whenever they come... and get no response, and still get more emails.
"... apologizing if anyone was offended..."
That's the classic non-apology, which places the blame on the person being offended. It's not sincere, and reminds me of when Rahm Ammanual was caught bashing the mentally disabled as "f***ing retards".
For an example of real contrition, check Don Imus' apology.
They should apologize REGARDLESS, whether or not anyone is offended.
The difference from the "Chimpy Bush" case is that comparing black people to apes has been a very common form of expression of racism for decades -- so much so that it's practically a cliché of racism. It's hardly plausible that Davenport is so ignorant as to not know this.
There's no similar "tradition" of expressing hatred of white people by comparing them to apes. In any case, most of the people who ridiculed Bush with the "Chimpy" name were also white and thus unlikely to be prejudiced against Bush for racial reasons.
Of course Davenport might be just a bad apple and not typical (as is true of the people who display racist signs at teabagger rallies). The real test of teabaggerdom is whether they'll unequivocally condemn her for this, as opposed to mounting fatuous defenses and trying to change the subject with "liberals are just as bad because blah blah."
hhhhmmmmm I never called GWB 'Chimpy'..... I would never insult a good ape that way. Never.
... But Bush does look a lot like Alfred E. Neuman.... though less entertaining.
"I'm sorry if my email offended anyone," she wrote, according to the OC Weekly. "I simply found it amusing regarding the character of Obama and all the questions surrounding his origin of birth."
I’m at a loss for words over Davenport’s so-called “explanation”. She knows full well that picture would offend ANYONE with a drop of Afrian-American blood (plus those of us who aren’t bigots). Let alone her trying to say it has something to do with Obama’s “character”. That’s as lame as a one-legged horse (no offense to horses).
She definetly needs to step down. She defended the former Mayor of Los Alamito, Dean Grose, after he sent out an email photo of watermelons growing in front of the White House and also former Newport Beach City Councilman, Dick Nichols, after his offensive remark about Mexicans. And while I don’t agree that the entire Tea Party is racist, she definety IS and if the Tea Party continues to keep people like her, it makes them look racist.
And if being racist isn’t enough to get her to step down, then how about on the grounds of stupidity. A public official should at least have a lick of common sense. And if she’s as dumb as a bag of hammers to a) not know that picture is racist and offensive to our African-American community b)not know by now that emails and texts can and are passed along---well what can I say other than she’s a complete and utter DOLT and doesn’t deserve to be in public office. Heck, she doesn’t deserve a job walking a dog!
What I find entertaining about this is she, and people like her who do this kind of "pssst look at this" e.mail is there was at least one person of taste and good character who stood up and let the wider audience know. The arrogance of a person to think that this kind of thing is O.K. is shocking.
The reason " IF " seems reasonable to the asshat is she knows a lot of the people she'd e.mailing weren't offended. Let's give this woman what she deserves, exposure and then ignoring her ignorance.
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