Two weeks ago, when Representative Ryan Winkler shocked the parts of the world that can still be shocked by referring to SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas as an “Uncle Tom” – something even junior-high kids in North Dakota thirty-something years ago knew was a racist slap – the Twin Cities media did what it always does.
Cover for the Democrat.
(And the Twin Cities leftyblogosphere? To them, Clarence Thomas, a phenomenally accomplished man, is no different than Michelle Malkin or Star Parker or Alan West; a target for endemic bigotry first, human last, maybe. When will Eric Pusey condem the racism on his “blog?”).
Speaking of accomplished people, Chris Fields – a very talented politician who gave Keith Ellison as good a run as any Democrat’s had in the 5th CD lately, and is now the Secretary of the Republican Party of Minnesota and who is a businessman, a retired US Marine and, as it happens, black – wrote an editorial about how very, very objectionable the Winkler flap was.
Now, it’s the mushy institutional left, people like the Star/Tribune editorial board, that constantly remind us we need a “dialogue about race”. Of course, when they say “dialogue”, they really mean “monologue, with our side doing all the talking and your icky conservatives doing the listening”
But in re the Winkler incident, it’s seem the Strib wants no monologue, much less “dialogue”. Chris FIelds wrote an excellent op-ed about the subject of Winkler and his ignorant racist jape. It was picked up by other papers – the Pioneer Press and the Mankato Times both ran it (it’s below the fold here).
But the Strib? Not so much as an impolite “F Off”.
Winkler, who represents the lily-white, mushy-left heard of the Strib’s prime demographic, has gotten an unqualified pass from the entire Twin Cities media, which focused on his instant contrition in a way that’d would have seemed less jarring if it were something the Strib, the City Pages or MPR ever did for, say, Todd Akin’s verbal japes or Tom Hackbarth’s post-divorce wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time awkwardness or anything Ann Coulter has ever said, in or out of context.
But it wasn’t.
So why didn’t the Strib run Fields’ op-ed? Is Fields not a compelling commentator on the issue? Is his perspective not important? Was his op-ed not well-written and excellent food for thought? Yes, yes and yes.
Does it afflict someone the Strib’s editorial board and their friends very much want to see remain politically comfortable? A thousand times yes.
And so down the memory hole it, and the entire incident, will be shoved. They have their priorities.
Fields op-ed is below the jump.
Harvard-educated lawyer and Minnesota State Rep. Ryan Winkler made a statement last week calling U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas an Uncle Tom. He offered the poorest of excuses for an apology and denied that he understood the meaning of the derogatory and offensive term.
Winkler was able to make this comment because Democrats operate under a false sense of security created by their own echo chamber and helped by the extremists in their party.
In 2008, presidential candidate Barack Obama said in his “A More Perfect Union” speech, “Race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now.” But by November 2012, African American columnist Clarence Page noted in the Washington Post that Obama went on to “try his best to ignore it.” Page cited research from University of Pennsylvania political scientist Daniel Gillion that showed “Obama talked less about race in his first two years in office than any Democratic president since 1961.”
African American voters have been the most loyal constituency in the country for Democrats. Yet Winkler’s comment serves as a backhanded slap across the face of all African Americans, including mine.
Winkler’s insult and the DFL’s tacit embrace of it are a wakeup call to minorities in Minnesota. And frankly to every other average Minnesotan.
If this comment had been made by Michele Bachmann or Tim Pawlenty, the DFL would have lit a firestorm complete with demands for their resignation.
Today’s
DFL leaders, including Chairman Ken Martin, Gov. Mark Dayton and House Speaker Paul Thissen, must end their deafening silence and call for the resignation of Rep. Winkler if they want to be the party that stands against intolerance and for the people.
Their silence is confirmation that they’re perfectly capable of being oblivious to the sensitivities of their most loyal constituency. It also sends a strong message that they’re perfectly willing to ignore the needs of all Minnesotans.And they have.
The last legislative session is proof positive of the growing DFL disconnect with average Minnesotans. While claiming to help the “little guy,” they did nothing to expand the middle class. On the contrary, all Minnesota taxpayers will pay more in taxes, more on their energy bills and more in fees to support an expanding state bureaucracy.
The Republican Party is fighting for all Minnesotans and not just on the issues of taxes and spending. It’s Republicans offering real solutions to close the achievement gap between black students and white students by strengthening teacher quality and student accountability programs.
I encourage minority voters and Minnesotans from all walks of life to take a fresh look at the Republican Party. We have a strong field of candidates who are making this case to the voters. They are leaders in business, leaders in local government and leaders in the legislature who are in touch with the people and who know how to manufacture success for the masses. Simply put — these guys are good and they get it.
To accept Winkler’s assertion that he did not understand the full connotation of the Uncle Tom reference is to accept and promote a lie. And pretending the Democrats are still the party of all Minnesotans accepts and promotes another, bigger lie.
Chris Fields is secretary of the Republican Party of Minnesota.
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