NAACP Fail: African American GOP Winners, Mia Love, And Tim Scott, Overlooked – GOP Deputy Press Secretary Raffi Williams Goes Off
Sometimes it’s not what you do say, but what you don’t say that can ruffle feathers and make people question if by not saying what you didn’t say, you were really saying more by not saying it. Or something like that.
Anyway, the NAACP (which for those not in the know stands for National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) is being called out for not saying something some people think they should’ve said. The NAACP put out a statement following the Republican/GOP dominated November 4th mid-term elections that did not include even a hint of congratulations, well dones, or good-for-yous for two of the election’s GOP winners, Mia Love and Tim Scott, who both happen to be African Americans.
A report by the Washington Examiner points out the NAACP snubbing to be particularly peculiar because Mia Love is both the first Haitian-American elected to Congress, and the first female African American Republican to be elected to Congress. Add to that the NAACP not recognizing Senator Scott for being the first African-American senator the South has elected since Reconstruction and some were telling the NAACP they had some explaining to do.
Among those folks was GOP deputy press secretary, Raffi Williams, who took to Twitter on Thursday to voice his feelings on what was missing form the NAACP’S statement, asking why the NAACP didn’t recognize the historic victories of Love and Scott.
GOP calls out NAACP for failing to recognize victories of black Republicans Tuesday
via @RedAlert http://t.co/1gFqWoDq2r— Raffi Williams (@Raffiwilliams) November 7, 2014
Other Tweets on the subject from Williams included “If the (NAACP) was a truly bipartisan org (they) would support all blacks not just dem Blacks,” and, “I wish an org like the (NAACP) would support black ppl of ideologies. Unfortunately they are proving how out of date they are.”
Finally, Williams also took the NAACP to task because they “wont celebrate black republicans.”
While not focusing on Mia Love or Tim Scott, what the NAACP did focus on in their statement following the November 4th elections were allegations that voting was rigged, voters were turned away, and “citizens who lost the right to participate,” in the words of Cornell William Brooks, President and CEO of the NAACP.
“This election was not about who won but rather the citizens who lost the right to participate. This first election post the Shelby v. Holder decision resulted in problems in every single state previously protected by the Voting Rights Act. For 49 years, these states were singled out because they had a history of discriminating against American voters. The Election Protection Hotline we manned with other concerned organizations fielded over 18,000 calls yesterday, many in those same states previously protected by the VRA. As we move forward—it is imperative that our newly elected Congress work with the NAACP and our partners to pass Voting Rights Act Amendment legislation that assures that all Americans have the franchise—our very democracy depends on it.”
More liberally minded publications such as Raw Story also mocked the GOP in support of the NAACP and the focus of their statement. Pulling out some sarcasm from their journalistic tool box, the Raw Story story goes after Willaims and the GOP outrage at the NAACP, basically calling it poppycock.
“Not content to be happy that they have acquired enough legislative muscle to set human progress back to a time when doctors using leeches was literally considered ‘bleeding edge,’ Republicans are super unhappy with everyone for not admiring their special new best friends who just so happen TO BE BLACK PEOPLE. No, for reals, they’re black.”
So even with the elections over, the tenacious back and forth politics continue. Victorious, defeated, right, wrong, NAACP or GOP, the show goes on.
