Look, John McCain Has a Black Supporter!

Oh my goodness, the end of the world is approaching! One of the most played up scenes on national news in the past few weeks is from a McCain-Palin campaign rally in Wisconsin at which a Black man urged McCain to "take it to Obama". This struck me as appalling considering McCain's record or lack thereof when it comes to civil rights (the ACLU rates McCain 0% on Civil Rights, the worst possible rating) and initiatives concerning the Black community that any Black person would support, much less defend Senator McCain or beg him to attack one of the greatest community and political leaders of our lifetime who is of multicultural heritage.

Sure, like most Republicans during election season, GOP candidates tend to try to whip up the Latino vote, particularly the reliably Republican-voting Florida Cuban community which tends to be more financially prosperous with a higher per capita income than most other Latino groups. Let's not even mention the fact that recent McCain-Palin rallies have been rife with supporters making racial threats against Obama, saying despicable things like "Kill him [Obama]!", "Terrorist", "Off with his head", and in some cases telling Black media in attendance to "Sit down, N-word". And yes, many of these statements have been caught on camera, so no one can deny that it is happening. What we also can't deny is that in none of these instances have we seen McCain or Palin rebuking their supporters for giving their rallies a distinct political lynch mob vibe. I for one, as a Black man, would not feel comfortable in that type of atmosphere.

As far as McCain's record goes, here are the facts. McCain was one of the few Congressmen to vote against making Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday a national holiday. Earlier this year, he appeared at the National Civil Rights Museum to apologize for his error in judgement. It took him 20 years--when running for President the second time--to make this statement. Now to his credit, in the past, McCain has supported affirmative action, though he says something different now that he is the Republican candidate. If you still don't believe me, consider the following exchange between McCain and a reporter while McCain in Florida with Governor Charlie Crist, was asked on camera, "Senator can you explain why you and your campaign manager have specifically said that Obama played the race card with his comments the other day. Can you elaborate, when you said you fought for equal rights your entire life, what specifically you have done in improving the life of African-Americans?" It took McCain a few seconds of awkward silence and a stuttering response, then asking for the question to be repeated.

Anyway, here's the video from Wisconsin. Thank goodness, AOL Voices posted this video because my wife and I had been looking for it and couldn't find it. Ahhh, the wonders of Youtube! Essence Magazine also interviewed James T. Harris and you can read that interview on Essence.com.

Text from James T. Harris' comments are as follows:

"How you doing Sir. Listen I want to say first of all, God bless you, Gov Palin, you are a Barracuda, we need that...I would also like to say, God bless you Senator for your service for this country and your leadership. Now Senator, at the convention you asked for us to fight for you, you asked that. I have to tell you, I doubt if there is anyone in this room that's taken the--pardon me--@*%-whoopin I have taken for supporting you... (thunderous applause from the all-white audience)

Sir I believe that in the next coming debate it is absolutely vital that you take it to Obama, that you hit him where it hurts in his soft spot. Sir ACORN is out there, we have the good Rev. Wright. we have [Father Michael] Pfleger, we have all these shady characters that have surrounded him. We have corruption here in Wisconsin and voting across the nation. I am begging you sir, I'm begging you, take it to him.