Throughout the August recess, members of the Congressional Black Caucus have been barnstorming across the country, conducting town hall meetings, and addressing constituents. The Blaze and Naked Emporer News collaborated to monitor what's being said at these gatherings, and what they've uncovered is distressing. Beyond headline-grabbing provocations from Rep. Frederica Wilson ("the real enemies") and Rep. Maxine Waters ("straight to hell"), several additional CBC members have engaged in flagrant, and often profoundly offensive ("hanging from a tree"), racial appeals. Their intentional racially incendiary language chafes. Their efforts to promulgate and exploit a bitter "us-versus-them" racial dichotomy saddens. Via our erstwhile colleague and newly-minted Beckian, Chris Field:
Serving up a flippant "new tone" quip here wouldn't come close to doing this clip justice. Conservatives are often accused of employing secret, subtle "dogwhistles" to (supposedly) appeal to their ideological kin's baser instincts. This video depicts elements of the CBC openly -- even gleefully -- stirring up racial tensions, without any pretense of subtlety, and with zero apparent hesitation. It's disgraceful. What's especially perverse is that The Blaze and NEN will inevitably be labeled as racists merely for highlighting the words of black members of Congress. A poll released last week revealed that nearly 2/3 of Americans say race relations have remained the same, or actually deteriorated, during Barack Obama's presidency. With some powerful elected officials eagerly sowing racial paranoia and discontent within minority communities, should we be surprised by Americans' pessimism?
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