Last Updated on September 25, 2015 by Alex Brown-Hinds

The past several weeks some members of the Republican Partyand the newly found Tea Party have had a field day in scaring thepublic not to support President Obama and the Democratic Party’s health care bill or any bills for that matter. They haveeven used a photo showing Republican Gov Charlie Crist of Florida hugging President Obama as a negative.


Saying thatGovernor Fist is too chummy with President Obama because hetook the stimulus money to help the people of Florida. Now mind you the people of Florida pay taxes and arehurting like everybody else. This is how far some people will go when it comes to money and race when it involves African Americans. Most Americans have forgottenthe Reconstruction Era and Jim Crow Laws that followed. After the Civil War nine Blacks were elected to Congresswhich set off a fire storm of Ku Klux Klan activities all over this country which shut Blacks out of Congress for almost 100years. Jim Crow was legal by law into the 60’s and is still practiced today by elected officials in the south and other parts ofthe nation when it is convenient.

I was not going to write anything about my thoughts on these political games until I remembered my experience with GeorgePepper, the past Grand Master of the California Ku Klux Klan in Fontana across from Kaiser Hospital at the old Thrifty Restaurant. George Pepper had heard me say at a public meetingI didn’t care what a person thought or believed in America aslong as they did not put it into action that would deny a personsrights because of the color of his skin, sex, religion or national origin. I did not know him by face but he came up to me afterthe session to invite me to do a radio program with him in adebate. I told him I would think about it so later in the week he called my office at Kaiser and said asked if I would meet him for coffee at the Thrifty Coffee shop. I agreed and when I walked in he was sitting in the booth and I extended my hand for a shake.

He replied I can’t shake your hand in public. He said it was an“image” thing. I won’t go into some of the other things that wetalked about because of space but it was an eye opener on theracial divide and public image.

That brings me to the current way the Republicans are acting towards President Obama. They cannot appear to be supportiveof his policies, take pictures with him in public or make sure noAfrican Americans receive help and Lord knows do not let anymoney into the hands or under our control. Growing up in North Carolina during segregation federal money would come into thecounty and still does, according to Johnson Willis, and beforethey would give it to Black people they would let it go back.

This is what the white Republicans of South Carolina are doingtoday. Another Republican voted against the stimulus moneyand went home to take pictures with his white voters, who gotstimulus money, and said look what I got you from Washington.

In Florida some members in the Republican Party are using apicture that Governor Crist took with President Obama saying Crist does not deserve your vote. The Tea Party is saying wewant to take this country back to what the founding fathers established it on, as one of their signs stated, let’s stop progress. Which I translate into let us remove Blacks from office and keep them out of decision making of public policy.

According to CNN 67% of this conservative party followersare non educated white males or blue collar labor workers. That is why Sarah Palin criticizes President Barack Obama for beingeducated, brilliant and able to use or not use a teleprompter, while she writes notes on her hands like students did to cheat in school.

The stimulus money will help every one in Florida regardless of race, sex, creed or color. Remember George Pepper statement to me, we have an “image” to uphold.

I also recall the KKK saying that the Republican Party platform looked like it was written by them back when Ronald Reagan defeated then President Jimmy Carter. People in the Tea Party Movement or some in the Republican Party say I always notice these tactics when money is mixedwith race. In districts where African Americans are not a signif- icant factor these kinds of racial attitudes are not displayed.

When President George Bush was doling out billions to “white only” corporations these same uninvolved 67%population saidnot one word.

When I took my first typing class in high school, we had to type over and over again: Now is the time for all good men tocome to the aid of their country. I say now is the time for those Republicans who really believe that they are the party of Lincoln to step up to the plate and marginalize that kind of thinking. It is also time for those Democrats who also say onething yet do another to step up to the plate and call these tactics for what they are, racial scar tactics, not Christian conservative values. Before these now southern Republicans becameinto existence they were old Dixie Democrats doing the samething.

Big Lots settles race discrimination Lawsuit

The Big Lots Store in Rancho Cucamonga settled a $400,000 lawsuit where a Hispanic supervisor and other Latino employees repeatedly used the N word when referring to African American employees. Big Lot has 71 stores within a 50 mile radius of zipcode 92411 in San Bernardino where they sell all of their products. If they think this way of the Black employees I wonder what they think of their Black customers.

Big Lots corporate office is in Columbus, Ohio where they say “we encourage each member of our team to develop strongbonds in the community where we live and work.” They forgotto tell the employees in Rancho Cucamonga to do that with the Black community as a matter of fact they forgot to tell all of the California employees about the Black community. They go onto say “We are committed to making a difference to those weserve by stocking food banks, supporting volunteerism, donating hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to schools andsocial services agencies.”

My question to the Black community is: has Big Lots made adifference in your community or organization with a donationor your food bank program? If not ask your local Big Lots storemanager, why not.

They also said they have launched a national advertising campaign to help vendors learn more about their buying power; again they ignore the Black media.

Shame on you Big Lots and congratulations to the AfricanAmerican employees of Rancho Cucamonga.