Obama, Trump, and the new racism of the Right

[RyanPsych]

Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern is no stranger to controversy. Many gay rights activists will remember her virulent homophobic statements both in the House chamber and out. In fact, that is pretty much what she is known for. However, she has recently drawn fire for offensive comments of a different stripe: racism.

Kern, 64, often serves as a caricature for her party's anti-LGBT views. She made headlines in 2008 when she described homosexuality as "the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism and Islam," saying that "what is happening now is they are going after, in schools, two-year-olds ..." In 2009 she authored a proclamation in which she blamed the economic crisis on President Obama's recognition of Gay Pride Month. She's claimed that "gays are infiltrating city councils." She has also introduced amendments banning the specter of sharia law, as well as allowing teachers to question evolution.

However, earlier this week, Kern inflamed a new segment of the population. While debating SJR 15, a bill introduced by a fellow Republican that would change the state's constitution to eliminate affirmative action, Kern suggested that perhaps the high proportion of incarceration and financial hardships of the state's African American population is due to laziness. Said Kern, "We have a high percentage of blacks in prison, and that's tragic, but are they in prison just because they are black or because they don't want to study as hard in school? I've taught school, and I saw a lot of people of color who didn't study hard because they said the government would take care of them." Additionally, she went on to state that women tend to earn less than men because they "usually don't want to work as hard as a man ... women tend to think a little bit more about their family, wanting to be at home more time, wanting to have a little more leisure time." The bill passed by a large margin in the overwhelmingly Republican House.

Kern's comments drew condemnation from some of her fellow representatives. Rep. Mike Shelton, D-Oklahoma City, said: "This body will quote the Bill of Rights and then talk about Muslims every day. They'll talk about illegal immigrants every day. They'll talk about homosexuals." He added, "Oklahoma is a great state - as long as you fit the profile."

Of even more visibility is real estate mogul, reality TV star and potential GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump. He has spent the past few weeks fanning the flames of the right's most ardent conspiracy theorists, the "birthers." He even claimed to have private investigators on the ground in Hawaii who apparently were telling him all sorts of crazy things.

Keep reading at: http://www.peoplesworld.org/obama-trump-and-the-new-racism-of-the-right/

[Spinny Liberal]

1. Sad that I'm not surprised -eom-