Va. GOP Chair Compares Black People to Dogs on Welfare

Virginia Beach Republican Party chair Dave Bartholomew (pictured) may not be a racist, but he is certainly acting like one. Bartholomew is under fire for forwarding an e-mail comparing African Americans to dogs on welfare. I won't say another word and will let you read the e-mail yourself.

MY DOG

I went down this morning to sign up my Dog for welfare.

At first the lady said, "Dogs are not eligible to draw welfare".

So I explained to her that my Dog is black, unemployed, lazy, can't speak English and has no frigging clue who his Daddy is.

So she looked in her policy book to see what it takes to qualify...

My Dog gets his first check Friday.

Is this a great country or what?

I would say that when I saw this e-mail I was furious, but I wouldn't be telling the entire truth. Instead of being furious, I was only surprised that Bartholomew was caught. Many of us have known that the Republican Party attracts the very worst and most racist of us and is the party that every Klansman, skinhead, neo-nazi and militia member wants to join.

Their racism is typically cloaked in creative metaphors and diatribes on personal responsibility, but the truth is that being poor and/or black is a crime in the minds of many Republicans. This e-mail doesn't surprise me one bit, and I'm sure the chair was forwarding the message to another Republican.

I look forward to seeing how Bartholomew spins this one after the public expresses its outrage. He may admit that it was a horrible mistake and pretend that he's not racist. He might try to say that someone broke into his e-mail account and sent the messages without his knowledge. He may even try to justify the horrible joke in some ridiculous way. After our recent fight in the city of Syracuse about a sheriff's candidate who appears to have sent racist e-mails, I've seen how deep denial can go in the world of politics.

Dave Bartholomew needs to resign immediately. He also needs to issue an apology to the American public for passing on such an offensive message. If other Republicans do not stand together to denounce Bartholomew's actions, we will know what they are all about.

Update: Dave Bartholomew has resigned but has issued no apologies as of yet:

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.