Today\’s quote comes to us from Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), who said this about Senator Tim Scott (R-SC):
“Ifyou call progress electing a person with the pigmentation that hehas, who votes against the interest and aspirations of 95 percent ofthe black people in South Carolina, then I guess that\’s progress”.
Translation: if Tim Scott, who is every bit as Black as James Clyburn, does not vote the same way James Clyburn does, he\’s not really Black…because James Clyburn has the market cornered on the interests and aspirations of Black people.
It would be hard to put into words how ugly and repulsive that statement is.
Let me remind Mr. Clyburn of something I have pointed out countless times in this blog: being Black makes you one thing: Black.
It does not make you smart or dumb. Fat or skinny. Intuitive or obtuse. And it certainly doesn\’t make you right or wrong politically.
Racists who hate Black people because of the color of their skin, hate Tim Scott just as much as they hate James Clyburn, and James Clyburn just as much as they hate Tim Scott. Telling them that Tim Scott has a more conservative view of economics and social issues than James Clyburn will not erase his melanin content.
By contrast, those of us who judge people on their qualities as individual human beings – not as individuals to be sorted by race, ethnicity, gender, etc. – will judge each man\’s ideas based on their relative merits, not whether their skin color inherently defines what is right and wrong for them to think.
I award James Clyburn Quote Of The Day honors for again proving a truism that we should all know by now: No group has a monopoly on racial prejudice. Black people are every bit as capable of mindless racism as any other group.
Congratulations, Mr. Clyburn. I hope you\’re proud of yourself.
