I don't know why it took 3 days for me to hear about it but a black man on October 9, 2008 at a rally in Milwaukee, WI spoke out publicly against Obama and endorsed McCain. His name is James T Harris and while I don't agree with his comments I think he has the right to make those comments.
Since this has aired on CNN, Mr. Harris has been ridiculed and his life threatened. If you haven't thought about it but the way the Black community treats black Americans who are conservative and/or Republican are marginalized and looked down upon. It's like to be black enough you must be a Democrat. When did it start? I'd say in the 1930's when Black folks were voting from F.D.R. What about before. Well from 1865 - 1878 during Reconstruction black folks voted Republican because Abraham Lincoln was a Republican and the Republican party allowed Black men to be voted into Congress and southern state leadership. It all ended in 1878 because between that and the 193o's there weren't many black people voting. We seem to have forgotten that you can be black and a Republican! There is a great video I saw that talks about this:
I'm not going to speculate on whether Harris was paid or genuine in his comments. But I saw an interview with him on tonight on CNN. He brought up an interesting question: If it had been a white man who said exactly the same thing he did would it be handled differently in the media? They did not allow him to answer this question. But I know what the answer is: YES!!! I've seen video of two white men say the same thing to McCain that Harris said! It didn't even raise an eyebrow. We don't even know what their names are. Why? Because we expect white men to say that. Instead of demonizing Harris, I'm far more interested to know why he holds the views on Obama and McCain that he does. That and I'm curious if his wife is white or black. That would explain a lot. It is good to remember many famous black people have been Republicans including Martin Luther King, Jr.
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