Why the GOP struggles with African-American voters, Part MMCXXVII

September 19, 2007

In Augusta, Ga., a Republican Party official on the city housing authority board sent an email touting a plan to “make the downtown whiter.” The ensuing controversy forced the official to resign from the housing board — but his position with the GOP remains secure. (thanks to reader J.C.)

A release from [Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver’s] office said [board member Dave] Barbee expressed “sincere regret” for poor wording in the Aug. 7 e-mail – which urged developers to support a plan to shut down a public housing development and replace it with “high income folks who will tend to be White.”

“We will be making the downtown Whiter with moving 200 whites in and moving 500 blacks out!” he wrote. […]

“He apologizes to anyone in the Augusta community that he may have inadvertently offended,” Copenhaver said in the statement.

“Inadvertently“?

The AP report noted that Barbee, who is white, is the Republican Party Chairman for the 10th Congressional District. “Party officials said he has not been asked to step down from that position.”

Good to know.

He must be tired of all the BJs he has to give when he sees those buff black guys walking down the street.

  • “We will be making the downtown Whiter with moving 200 whites in and moving 500 blacks out!”

    Poor wording???? I’d say that’s about as clear as one can get.

  • WTF? That sounds like something straight from the Onion. What the hell was he thinking? It’s bad enough that he’d want to do that kind of thing, but that he didn’t put it in less blunt terms? Had he said that he wanted to remove poor people for wealthy people, or to fight crime and drugs; that would have gotten the point across, without being so blatant. But I can’t believe that anyone could be so blind as to not realize that you can’t say these kinds of thing anymore.

    But really, that’s all a losing battle anyway. Once you admit that you can’t be blatantly racist, that’s just the thin end of the wedge. Soon they find themselves twisting into pretzels trying to recode their language, and within time, people don’t even remember what they were really talking about. It’d be better if things happened quicker than that, but they’ll happen all the same.

    These days, they can’t even explain exactly what Senator Craig did wrong without falling all over themselves trying to avoid accusations of gay-bashing. George Allen had the same problem with his macaca incident. He lost a large chunk of the population for saying it, and then lost all the racists by denying it. The last thing bigots want to be told is that they have to hide their bigotry.

  • Barbee, who is white, is the Republican Party Chairman for the 10th Congressional District. “Party officials said he has not been asked to step down from that position.”

    I guess they figured why start raising standards now? As long as you’re not gay, feel free to do whatever you want. IOKIYAR!

  • The best part is that he used a capital “W” for whites (even for the adjective “Whiter”) but a lowercase “b” for blacks.

    Tom Schaller, call your office…

  • I know when I am struggling with a delicate word choice and trying hard not to offend I put an exclamation point on what I am saying.

    Our trolls from the earlier thread will soon join us here to defend the patriotism of good Mr. Barbee in 3. . .2. . .1. . . .

  • I don’t know, I think Memekiller is probably onto something. It may have nothing to do with racism, but could instead be a decision based purely on good old fiscal conservatism.

    If you think about the classic defensive technique of a frightened conservative as exemplified by Florida GOP State Rep Bob Allen, the resulting health care problems can have quite exorbitant treatment costs, along with lifetime consequences. TMJ, Repetitive Motion Disorder, and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome alone can be chronic, debilitating health problems. Then when you add in the costs of good lawyers and a well-connected PR firm, the costs can quickly spiral out of control.

  • And the extintion of the Grotesque Obnoxious Party continues apace…

    Once again the ReThuglicons show an inability to apologize, which I link to an inability to know when they’ve done something wrong.

    I also note that in Barbie’s opinion, a space that holds 500 African-Americans will only hold 200 Caucasians.

  • “We will be making the downtown Whiter with moving 200 whites in and moving 500 blacks out!” he wrote. […]

    At $20 a pop, he’s saving like, what? (500 X $20…) $10,000? That’s a lot of cash.

  • I’m amazed at how often the Republican party proves Kanye West right, though Kanye really does need to broaden his NOLA comments to include the whole bunch of white Republican country clubbers.

  • Um, memekiller @10; I don’t think all 500 of them would be males, much less adult males. OTOH, one would perhaps encounter them more than once a day. So, perhaps, your math is correct afterall.

    Zeitgeist, @ 7,

    My word… that was some troll tsunami there. And it seems to be still going on. I quit reading when the count was at 129, because it was an argument going in a circular motion: “terrorists don’t deserve protections afforded other human beings.” “How do you know they’re terrorists unless you try them?” “You can’t try them, because they’re terrorists”. Reminded me of the conversation that d’Exupery’s Little Prince had with a drunk on one of the planets he visited: “Why do you drink?” “To forget” “To forget what?” “To forget that I drink”

  • Um, memekiller @10; I don’t think all 500 of them would be males, much less adult males. OTOH, one would perhaps encounter them more than once a day. So, perhaps, your math is correct afterall.”

    Naw, the women stay. It’s a Southern tradition. And being underage doesn’t make them any less black, and thus any less scary, right? The man’s got to protect himself.

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