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Sunday, March 25, 2012

Gingrich Is Racist

What the President said, 
Speaking at the White House, the president said the tragedy struck a chord with him personally.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I can only imagine what these parents are going through. And when I think about this boy, I think about my own kids.
You know, if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon. And, you know, I think they are right to expect that all of us, as Americans, are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves and that we're going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened.

What Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said as he harshly criticized President Obama for commenting on Trayvon Martin’s race as he extended condolences to the 17-year-old shooting victim’s parents on Friday. Obama said, “If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon,” a remark that Gingrich said he found “disgraceful” and “appalling.”

"Well, I think what Newt Gingrich said is that race shouldn't be a factor," Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said when asked about Gingrich's comments on ABC's "This Week".Well in my opinion what I see from Gingrich is a racist remark supported by Bachmann. Clearly Gingrich and anyone who supports him on his statement cannot see pass the President’s skin tone.  

Stanley Ann Dunham
 (11/29/1942 – 11/7/1995)
President Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham (November 29, 1942 – November 7, 1995), the mother of Barack Obama, was predominantly English ancestry, with some German, Swiss, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh ancestry.  The President is biracial. Therefore when he states, “If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon,” the President is speaking about all people of America.  Trayvon Martin - no parent of any color wants to bury a child.

Gingrich’s statement is appalling. He just could not pass up an opportunity to make a political statement out of a tragedy.  People that divide America are those who totally negate President Obama’s ancestry, and only see a Black man. Undoubtedly, Gingrich supports the “One – Drop Rule.  The one-drop rule is a historical colloquial term in the United States for the social classification as black of individuals with any African ancestry; meaning any person with "one drop of black blood" was considered Black.

Madelyn Payne Dunham grandmother &
mother Ann of Barack Obama
Despite the criticisms of slavery, in the prewar years, free people of mixed race could have up to one-eighth or one-quarter African ancestry, depending on the state,  and be considered legally white.  According to Joshua D. Rothman, Notorious in the Neighborhood: Sex and Families across the Color Line in Virginia, 1787–1861, Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina, 2003, p.68, "To be defined as 'mulatto' under Virginia law in 1822, a person had to have at least one-quarter African ancestry."  This is the equal to one grandparent.  So President Obama would fare better in 1822 where he would be considered white than in 2012 where’s he considered Black.

Quoting from Henry Louis Gates, Jr., In Search of Our Roots: How 19 Extraordinary African Americans Reclaimed Their Past, New York: Crown Publishing, 2009, pp.20–21:
  • 58% of African Americans have at least 13% European ancestry – equal to one great-grandparent
  • 20% of African Americans have at least 25% European ancestry – equal to one grandparent
  • 5% of African Americans have at least 13% Native American ancestry – equal to one great-grandparent
  • 1% of African Americans have at least 50% European ancestry – equal one parent like President Obama
Gingrich received a B.A. degree in history from Emory University in Atlanta in 1965. He earned an M.A. (1968) and Ph.D. (1971) in modern European history, both from Tulane University in New Orleans.  He should know these fasts, unless he just doesn’t care. Gingrich taught history and geography at the University of West Georgia.  According to the Wall Street Journal, University of West Georgia denied Gingrich tenure and he left the college.  Those people think of voting for Gingrich should think about West Georgia’s decision.

So yes when the President said, “If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon.” Trayvon is the face of all teens, chased down by a bully and shot to death – that’s who he is – and we responsible individuals are tired of the racism. We want justice!

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