On Feb. 1, 2012, the Huffington Post reported that Republican Kansas House Speaker Mike O’Neal forwarded an email stating the following:
“At last — I can honestly voice a Biblical prayer for our president! Look it up — it is word for word! Let us all bow our heads and pray. Brothers and Sisters, can I get an AMEN?
Psalms 109:8 – May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership. May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven from their ruined homes. May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor. May no one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children.”
Below are more examples of the racism that influential elected officials have spewed since President Obama was consider for the candidacy. Spread out over several years, these comments may seem like isolated incidences; however after scrolling through the compiled list, the toxic and racial charged climate that exist in Washington DC and throughout the country becomes apparent.
*The names of the offenders are linked to the news source.
April 28, 2011 – Marilyn Davenport, an elected member of the Orange County Republican party, apologized for the leaked email, but said she sees no reason to step down from her post. The email depicts Obama as a chimpanzee with two older chimpanzee “parents.”
Dec. 14, 2010 – “The zoo has an African lion and the White House has a lyin’ African – Tea Party Protester
March 18, 2010 “My opinion is that our president is arrogant and angry. The fact is that he is a black man.” – Minnesota State Sen. Mike Parry
Jan. 10, 2010 – “I am wowed by Obama’s oratorical gifts and believed that the country was ready to embrace a black presidential candidate, especially one such as Obama – a ‘light-skinned’ African American ‘with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one,’ as he later put it privately,” – Sen. Majority Leader, Harry Reid
July 25, 2009 – Tea Party official Dr. David McKalip, sent out an e-mail with image of Obama as a “witch doctor,” dressed in a loin cloth and with a bone through his nose. Underneath the picture were the words “Obama Care: Coming Soon to a Clinic Near You.”
July 17, 2009 – “Breaking News Playboy just offered Sarah Palin $1 million to pose nude in the January issue. Michelle Obama got the same offer from National Geographic.” – Atwater, Calif. Councilman Gary Frago
March 28, 2009 – Dean Grose, the mayor of Los Alamitos is coming under fire for an e-mail he sent out that depicts the White House lawn planted with watermelons, under the title “No Easter egg hunt this year.”
Oct 17, 2008 – A Republican women’s club in San Bernardino County sent out a recent newsletter with a photo of Barack Obama surrounded by fried chicken, watermelon and ribs.
Oct. 5, 2008 – Bobby May, treasurer of the Buchanan County Republican Party, wrote “Obama will hire the rapper Ludacris to paint the White House black, and divert more foreign aid to Africa so ‘the Obama family there can skim enough to allow them to free their goats and live the American Dream.’ He continued by writing that Obama would replace the 50 stars on the U.S. flag with a star and crescent logo,” an Islamic symbol, and that his policy on drugs would be to “raise taxes to pay for Obama’s inner-city political base.”