Democratic Congressman Paul Kanjorski is getting heat from Republicans for making comments that sound like he doesn't respect black people. In his testimony to help those in foreclosure during a joint House-Senate conference committee session, he made the following statement:
"The reason I ... have fought for this program isn't because we're trying to give relief to people that aren't responsible, that don't know what the hell they're doing, or don't care what they're doing. We're giving relief to people that I deal with in my office every day now, unfortunately. But because of the longevity of this recession, these are people -- and they're not minorities and they're not defective and they're not all the things you'd like to insinuate that these programs are about -- these are average, good American people."
I am having a difficult time trying to interpret Kanjorski's language here. I don't think that he's trying to be racist, so I don't expect him to apologize. All the while, it is certainly not out of the question for a Democrat to be racist. Many Democrats, including men as powerful as Vice President Joe Biden, have made comments that were incredibly insulting to minorities. Kanjorski must be careful and avoid lumping minorities into the mix of psychologically dysfunctional, irresponsible people. That would be wrong, and I presume that's not what he's saying.
My interpretation of Kanjorski's remarks, as well as the Republican response to his statement, is the following:
The Republican Party embraces so many policies that are detrimental to minorities that it is always attempting to grab any and every opportunity to imply that Democrats are just as bad. The GOP somehow believes that by catching a Democrat saying something racist, it will be excused for its own racism. Sorry, my friends, it just doesn't work that way. If you want to get the black vote, you aren't going to do it by proving that Democrats are just as bad as you are. You've actually got to prove that you're clearly the better alternative.
In terms of Kanjorski's comment, I interpret his statement to be one targeted at those who are against banking regulation and tend to oppose Democratic policies. He's implying that these initiatives are not based on some kind of set-aside issue, or that the people being affected are simply special interest groups and minorities. He seems to be attempting to argue that the recession is affecting everyone, even people like himself. The add-on of "good American people" toward the end may not imply that Kanjorski believes that minorities can't be "good American people." His assertion includes the second group to which he is referring but doesn't explicitly exclude the first group (black people).
Long story short: This situation makes the Republicans look even more ridiculous than they already are. They need to move on to something else. Kanjorski may need to clarify and, in general, avoid making such convoluted statements.
16-June-10 - I know I'm supposed to be all outraged about the Seattle cop punching the teen in her face because I'm black and stuff like that, HOWEVER, I don't know whether it's because I'm a jaded '80s baby tired of young people's lack of respect for authority or I'm just insensitive, but I think the girls in this video absolutely deserve what they got.
16-June-10 - I know I'm supposed to be all outraged about the Seattle cop punching the teen in her face because I'm black and stuff like that, HOWEVER, I don't know whether it's because I'm a jaded '80s baby tired of young people's lack of respect for authority or I'm just insensitive, but I think the girls in this video absolutely deserve what they got.
15-June-10 - Jarretta Hamilton is angry and unemployed. The 39-year-old teacher was fired last April because she had sex before marriage and wound up pregnant. Now she has broken her silence and has gone public.
12-June-10 - I am not quite sure what to make of the ruffled YouTube video that is now scouring the web out of Paterson, New Jersey, where an officer inexplicably grabs a man, turns him around and puts pepper spray in to his eyes twice.
11-June-10 - Indianapolis Police Chief Paul Ciesielski called for the firing of a white officer who's been charged with repeatedly striking a 15-year-old biracial boy in the face during an arrest. The attacks allegedly occurred after the boy had been subdued by other officers.
09-June-10 - Gary Coleman's ex-wife, Shannon Price, is up to her post-hubby's-death antics again. As if masterminding the sale of Coleman's pre- and- post-death photos wasn't enough, now the merry widow has managed to get in to Coleman's home and take practically everything that wasn't bolted down! Click Here for the Complete Story
09-June-10 - Todd Bridges, who co-starred with Gary Coleman on the popular sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes,"is livid about both Globe Magazine's and Shannon Price's involvement in Coleman's death photos.
08-June-10 - Desiree Rogers, the former White House social secretary who "left" to seek greener pastures after a major security faux paux occurred under her watch, was recently hired by Johnson Publishing Co., the owners of Jet and Ebony magazines, as a consultant.
07-June-10 - A Seattle writer is angry beyond words, because late last month his 8-year-old child was removed from her honors elementary school class. No, the child did not misbehave. Instead, the little girl was guilty of using a hair moisturizer that allegedly annoyed her Caucasian teacher.
04-June-10 - Alejandra, Jermaine Jackson's ex-wife, is taking her ex-mother-in-law, Katherine, to court to demand financial security for herself and her children.
Is it your belief that only minorities receive welfare? It seems to me that walstreet and the banks just a big welfare check, and it was foodstamps or vulchers, it was a big bunch of cash,that was interest free.
Also we were told that minorities dominate the bottom of the line welfare, yet when President Clinton put the kaboie on how long you could be on welfare it seems that drew whites out of the wood works, don't believe the hype. You would need every black person in america including the President and his family to be on welfare and then some. And you wouldn't spend the kind of money that is being spent. especially the kind being spent on big corp. I say give the american people the access to the federal reserve that walstreet has then we'll have something to talk about.
Democrats you have a racist in the house,and boyce watkins just can`t seem to come out and say it.joe biden has talked badly about black folk look where it got him, vice president. if this old white guy was a republican saying what he said, boyce watkins and the rest of you would be singing a different song.....................
The focus is on Congressman Paul Kanjorski, he said it. The Republicans have every right to interpret Kanjorski's language, just as you have done. What makes you correct and Republicans wrong?
Watkins likes to vary the standards according to who is speaking. If a Republican, then there are very low standards, with even slightest hint, or whiff will get a Republican branded racist.
Now a democrat has a much higher standard to meet. Now we have to interpret what they are saying, try to understand what they meant, usually ending with them getting a pass.
Folks the end game is Watkins, doing what so many before have done. That’s to profit off of the race game. Boyce is every bit the racial opportunist Sharpton is. Even the smallest racial indiscretions, are magnified to astronomical proportions. This is done all in the name of raising his profile.
Haven’t you guys seen this before, it’s a tired game.
Boyce: I am so glad that you did not take his comments entirely out of context. I don't like what he said, but I believe that he was trying to keep someone from dismissing his constituents as anomalies (which we know the GOP is fond of doing.) He is a politician talking to politicians. He knows that in order to make them care, they have to believe that he's talking about "mainstream Americans" and making them white, and middle class, is what it takes to get the funding for his cause! I am not mad at him! It doesn't sound good, but as a black woman, I am not offended.
Democrats can be just as racist as republicans. How about we look at the bills these people back instead of what they say out of their mouths. That is the best way to determine how they feel about minorities.
October 3, 1924 Republicans denounce three-time Democrat presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan for defending the Ku Klux Klan at 1924 Democratic National Convention
June 12, 1929 First Lady Lou Hoover invites wife of U.S. Rep. Oscar De Priest (R-IL), an African-American, to tea at the White House, sparking protests by Democrats across the country
August 17, 1937 Republicans organize opposition to former Ku Klux Klansman and Democrat U.S. Senator Hugo Black, appointed to U.S. Supreme Court by FDR; his Klan background was hidden until after confirmation
June 24, 1940 Republican Party platform calls for integration of the armed forces; for the balance of his terms in office, FDR refuses to order it
“Democrats are unwavering in our support of equal opportunity for all Americans. That’s why we’ve worked to pass every one of our nation’s Civil Rights laws… On every civil rights issue, Democrats have led the fight.”
August 8, 1945 Republicans condemn Harry Truman’s surprise use of the atomic bomb in Japan. The whining and criticism goes on for years. It begins two days after the Hiroshima bombing, when former Republican President Herbert Hoover writes to a friend that “The use of the atomic bomb, with its indiscriminate killing of women and children, revolts my soul.”
September 30, 1953 Earl Warren, California’s three-term Republican Governor and 1948 Republican vice presidential nominee, nominated to be Chief Justice; wrote landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education
November 25, 1955 Eisenhower administration bans racial segregation of interstate bus travel
March 12, 1956 Ninety-seven Democrats in Congress condemn Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education, and pledge to continue segregation
June 5, 1956 Republican federal judge Frank Johnson rules in favor of Rosa Parks in decision striking down “blacks in the back of the bus” law
November 6, 1956 African-American civil rights leaders Martin Luther King and Ralph Abernathy vote for Republican Dwight Eisenhower for President
September 9, 1957 President Dwight Eisenhower signs Republican Party’s 1957 Civil Rights Act
“Democrats are unwavering in our support of equal opportunity for all Americans. That’s why we’ve worked to pass every one of our nation’s Civil Rights laws… On every civil rights issue, Democrats have led the fight.”
September 24, 1957 Sparking criticism from Democrats such as Senators John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, President Dwight Eisenhower deploys the 82nd Airborne Division to Little Rock, AR to force Democrat Governor Orval Faubus to integrate public schools
May 6, 1960 President Dwight Eisenhower signs Republicans’ Civil Rights Act of 1960, overcoming 125-hour, around-the-clock filibuster by 18 Senate Democrats
May 2, 1963 Republicans condemn Democrat sheriff of Birmingham, AL for arresting over 2,000 African-American schoolchildren marching for their civil rights
September 29, 1963 Gov. George Wallace (D-AL) defies order by U.S. District Judge Frank Johnson, appointed by President Dwight Eisenhower, to integrate Tuskegee High School
June 9, 1964 Republicans condemn 14-hour filibuster against 1964 Civil Rights Act by U.S. Senator and former Ku Klux Klansman Robert Byrd (D-WV), who still serves in the Senate
“Democrats are unwavering in our support of equal opportunity for all Americans. That’s why we’ve worked to pass every one of our nation’s Civil Rights laws… On every civil rights issue, Democrats have led the fight.”
June 10, 1964 Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL) criticizes Democrat filibuster against 1964 Civil Rights Act, calls on Democrats to stop opposing racial equality. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was introduced and approved by a staggering majority of Republicans in the Senate. The Act was opposed by most southern Democrat senators, several of whom were proud segregationists—one of them being Al Gore Sr. Democrat President Lyndon B. Johnson relied on Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen, the Republican leader from Illinois, to get the Act passed.
August 4, 1965 Senate Republican Leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL) overcomes Democrat attempts to block 1965 Voting Rights Act; 94% of Senate Republicans vote for landmark civil right legislation, while 27% of Democrats oppose. Voting Rights Act of 1965, abolishing literacy tests and other measures devised by Democrats to prevent African-Americans from voting, signed into law; higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats vote in favor
February 19, 1976 President Gerald Ford formally rescinds President Franklin Roosevelt’s notorious Executive Order authorizing internment of over 120,000 Japanese-Americans during WWII
September 15, 1981 President Ronald Reagan establishes the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, to increase African-American participation in federal education programs
June 29, 1982 President Ronald Reagan signs 25-year extension of 1965 Voting Rights Act
August 10, 1988 President Ronald Reagan signs Civil Liberties Act of 1988, compensating Japanese-Americans for deprivation of civil rights and property during World War II internment ordered by FDR
November 21, 1991 President George H. W. Bush signs Civil Rights Act of 1991 to strengthen federal civil rights legislation
August 20, 1996 Bill authored by U.S. Rep. Susan Molinari (R-NY) to prohibit racial discrimination in adoptions, part of Republicans’ Contract With America, becomes law
And let’s not forget the words of liberal icon Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood…
We should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population….
Two Canceled Series Are Back From The Dead
'The Voice': Singing Michael Jackson Emotional For Judith…
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the author of the new book 'Black American Money.' To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here. 
Comments: (90)
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By: rik on 6/25/2010 2:17PM
@ OncealwaysaMarine
Clearly you are not Watkins target audience. You have to abilty to think for yourself
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By: Barb on 7/03/2010 12:08PM
Is it your belief that only minorities receive welfare? It seems to me that walstreet and the banks just a big welfare check, and it was foodstamps or vulchers, it was a big bunch of cash,that was interest free.
Also we were told that minorities dominate the bottom of the line welfare, yet when President Clinton put the kaboie on how long you could be on welfare it seems that drew whites out of the wood works, don't believe the hype. You would need every black person in america including the President and his family to be on welfare and then some. And you wouldn't spend the kind of money that is being spent. especially the kind being spent on big corp.
I say give the american people the access to the federal reserve that walstreet has then we'll have something to talk about.
Report This
By: xtreme negro on 6/25/2010 12:28PM
Democrats you have a racist in the house,and boyce watkins just can`t seem to come out and say it.joe biden has talked badly about black folk look where it got him, vice president. if this old white guy was a republican saying what he said, boyce watkins and the rest of you would be singing a different song.....................
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By: rik on 6/25/2010 12:34PM
My God man to have a PhD. You are pretty simple.
The focus is on Congressman Paul Kanjorski, he said it. The Republicans have every right to interpret Kanjorski's language, just as you have done. What makes you correct and Republicans wrong?
Watkins likes to vary the standards according to who is speaking. If a Republican, then there are very low standards, with even slightest hint, or whiff will get a Republican branded racist.
Now a democrat has a much higher standard to meet. Now we have to interpret what they are saying, try to understand what they meant, usually ending with them getting a pass.
Folks the end game is Watkins, doing what so many before have done. That’s to profit off of the race game. Boyce is every bit the racial opportunist Sharpton is. Even the smallest racial indiscretions, are magnified to astronomical proportions. This is done all in the name of raising his profile.
Haven’t you guys seen this before, it’s a tired game.
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By: Lini on 6/26/2010 12:30AM
I completely agree! I thought Dr. Watkins was above this; clearly I was wrong.
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By: ABG on 6/25/2010 12:32PM
@Mimi...my last post was not aimed at you but to those who feel the race card is being played.
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By: OncealwaysaMarine on 6/25/2010 12:49PM
He ain't no racist!
See?
He gave me this WHOLE nickel.
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By: patti777 on 6/25/2010 1:06PM
Boyce: I am so glad that you did not take his comments entirely out of context. I don't like what he said, but I believe that he was trying to keep someone from dismissing his constituents as anomalies (which we know the GOP is fond of doing.) He is a politician talking to politicians. He knows that in order to make them care, they have to believe that he's talking about "mainstream Americans" and making them white, and middle class, is what it takes to get the funding for his cause! I am not mad at him! It doesn't sound good, but as a black woman, I am not offended.
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By: terrence on 6/25/2010 1:35PM
Democrats can be just as racist as republicans. How about we look at the bills these people back instead of what they say out of their mouths. That is the best way to determine how they feel about minorities.
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By: OncealwaysaMarine on 6/25/2010 1:48PM
October 3, 1924
Republicans denounce three-time Democrat presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan for defending the Ku Klux Klan at 1924 Democratic National Convention
June 12, 1929
First Lady Lou Hoover invites wife of U.S. Rep. Oscar De Priest (R-IL), an African-American, to tea at the White House, sparking protests by Democrats across the country
August 17, 1937
Republicans organize opposition to former Ku Klux Klansman and Democrat U.S. Senator Hugo Black, appointed to U.S. Supreme Court by FDR; his Klan background was hidden until after confirmation
June 24, 1940
Republican Party platform calls for integration of the armed forces; for the balance of his terms in office, FDR refuses to order it
“Democrats are unwavering in our support of equal opportunity for all Americans. That’s why we’ve worked to pass every one of our nation’s Civil Rights laws… On every civil rights issue, Democrats have led the fight.”
August 8, 1945
Republicans condemn Harry Truman’s surprise use of the atomic bomb in Japan. The whining and criticism goes on for years. It begins two days after the Hiroshima bombing, when former Republican President Herbert Hoover writes to a friend that “The use of the atomic bomb, with its indiscriminate killing of women and children, revolts my soul.”
September 30, 1953
Earl Warren, California’s three-term Republican Governor and 1948 Republican vice presidential nominee, nominated to be Chief Justice; wrote landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education
November 25, 1955
Eisenhower administration bans racial segregation of interstate bus travel
March 12, 1956
Ninety-seven Democrats in Congress condemn Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education, and pledge to continue segregation
June 5, 1956
Republican federal judge Frank Johnson rules in favor of Rosa Parks in decision striking down “blacks in the back of the bus” law
November 6, 1956
African-American civil rights leaders Martin Luther King and Ralph Abernathy vote for Republican Dwight Eisenhower for President
September 9, 1957
President Dwight Eisenhower signs Republican Party’s 1957 Civil Rights Act
“Democrats are unwavering in our support of equal opportunity for all Americans. That’s why we’ve worked to pass every one of our nation’s Civil Rights laws… On every civil rights issue, Democrats have led the fight.”
September 24, 1957
Sparking criticism from Democrats such as Senators John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, President Dwight Eisenhower deploys the 82nd Airborne Division to Little Rock, AR to force Democrat Governor Orval Faubus to integrate public schools
May 6, 1960
President Dwight Eisenhower signs Republicans’ Civil Rights Act of 1960, overcoming 125-hour, around-the-clock filibuster by 18 Senate Democrats
May 2, 1963
Republicans condemn Democrat sheriff of Birmingham, AL for arresting over 2,000 African-American schoolchildren marching for their civil rights
September 29, 1963
Gov. George Wallace (D-AL) defies order by U.S. District Judge Frank Johnson, appointed by President Dwight Eisenhower, to integrate Tuskegee High School
June 9, 1964
Republicans condemn 14-hour filibuster against 1964 Civil Rights Act by U.S. Senator and former Ku Klux Klansman Robert Byrd (D-WV), who still serves in the Senate
“Democrats are unwavering in our support of equal opportunity for all Americans. That’s why we’ve worked to pass every one of our nation’s Civil Rights laws… On every civil rights issue, Democrats have led the fight.”
June 10, 1964
Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL) criticizes Democrat filibuster against 1964 Civil Rights Act, calls on Democrats to stop opposing racial equality. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was introduced and approved by a staggering majority of Republicans in the Senate. The Act was opposed by most southern Democrat senators, several of whom were proud segregationists—one of them being Al Gore Sr. Democrat President Lyndon B. Johnson relied on Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen, the Republican leader from Illinois, to get the Act passed.
August 4, 1965
Senate Republican Leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL) overcomes Democrat attempts to block 1965 Voting Rights Act; 94% of Senate Republicans vote for landmark civil right legislation, while 27% of Democrats oppose. Voting Rights Act of 1965, abolishing literacy tests and other measures devised by Democrats to prevent African-Americans from voting, signed into law; higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats vote in favor
February 19, 1976
President Gerald Ford formally rescinds President Franklin Roosevelt’s notorious Executive Order authorizing internment of over 120,000 Japanese-Americans during WWII
September 15, 1981
President Ronald Reagan establishes the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, to increase African-American participation in federal education programs
June 29, 1982
President Ronald Reagan signs 25-year extension of 1965 Voting Rights Act
August 10, 1988
President Ronald Reagan signs Civil Liberties Act of 1988, compensating Japanese-Americans for deprivation of civil rights and property during World War II internment ordered by FDR
November 21, 1991
President George H. W. Bush signs Civil Rights Act of 1991 to strengthen federal civil rights legislation
August 20, 1996
Bill authored by U.S. Rep. Susan Molinari (R-NY) to prohibit racial discrimination in adoptions, part of Republicans’ Contract With America, becomes law
And let’s not forget the words of liberal icon Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood…
We should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population….
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