The first Republican presidential debate of this election cycle opened last week with praise for a song called “Rich Men North of Richmond.” The lyrics of the country song released in August are full of resentment and racist tropes about folks on welfare. Opening the debate sponsored by the Republican National Committee with this typical scapegoating and race-baiting is right out of the Trump playbook, a sad statement about current state of the party.
“Lord, we got folks in the street
Ain’t got nothin’ to eat
And the obese milkin’ welfare
But God, if you’re five foot three
And you’re three hundred pounds
Taxes ought not to pay
For your bags of fudge rounds”
All pretense has been stripped away from any claims the Republican Party supports a diversity of opinions or constituents. At least one of the only three people of color on the debate stage appears bent on proving he hums the same racist tune. Two days after the debate, millennial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy attacked Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, comparing her to “modern grand wizards of the modern KKK.” This was a typical right-wing tactic: accuse your opponent of doing the very thing you are guilty of doing. Apparently, her words in 2019 struck a raw nerve in Ramaswamy when she said, “This is the time to shake that table. … We don’t need any more brown faces that don’t want to be a brown voice,” meaning diversity at the table doesn’t matter unless it represents diversity in policy.
We must call out the Republican Party’s use of racist tropes plainly and clearly, even when they are masked in folksy country tunes. We also must continue to call out all politicians, no matter their color, and require them to be better.
The day after Ramaswamy’s verbal assault, there was a march commemorating the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Martin Luther King III pointed out the backsliding that has occurred since his father’s legendary “I Have a Dream” speech. “My daughter has fewer rights today than when she was born,” Martin III said, noting a section of the Voting Rights Act was struck down in 2013, women’s reproductive rights were struck down in 2022 and affirmative action was struck down in 2023.
His daughter, Yolanda Renee King, who is 15, picked up on the theme, “If I could speak to my grandfather today, I would say I’m sorry we still have to be here to rededicate ourselves to finishing your work and ultimately realizing your dream,” she said. “Today, racism is still with us. Poverty is still with us. And now, gun violence has come for places of worship, our schools and our shopping centers.”
The last words Yolanda spoke came true that same day, in a state governed by another Republican candidate for president. Governor Ron DeSantis has made clear his intent in Florida to disenfranchise the Black voters and rewrite the history books to erase the damage and dehumanization of slavery, sugarcoating it. Deadly results of his race-baiting policies were seen when another mass shooting occurred in Jacksonville, Florida, where a white man shot and killed three Black people. The release of the shooter’s racist manifesto outlined his racist intent.
The Republican debate made clear how morally bankrupt too many vying for the party’s nomination are. They ignore the monumental, real-life consequences of their racist misrepresentation of the value of Black and brown lives. The words and approach they use to scare up votes only promote division and racism, and can lead to murder.
To paraphrase what Rev. Al Sharpton said so eloquently: We are the children of the dream, the dreamers. This is now a fight between the dreamers and the schemers. But the most fiery and energetic speaker was civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who insisted that he would fight until hell freezes over and declared now more than ever before we must be unapologetic defenders of Black life, liberty and humanity. “Just like they try to ban our Black history, we must tell them without Black history, you would not have American history,” Crump said. “Just as the fight for the families of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Tyre Nichols and so many others, Americans must now fight for Black literature and culture.”
Up to this point, too many Black Americans have believed we did not have to fight anymore, that our ancestors put in all the work for our freedom and rights and we could now rest and enjoy the fruits of their tireless labor. As it turns out, we must accept that we are now the ancestors for the next generations, and we all must fight for them before it’s too late.
