Mia Love, Allen West and Other Conservative Blacks Hurt the Quest for Equality

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/mia-love-allen-west-and-other-conservative-blacks-hurt-quest-equality

Representative Mia Love, Republican of Utah, appeared on the January 4 edition of the ABC News program This Week With George Stephanpoulos to defend House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana in the wake of revelations that he once addressed a white supremacist group.

Have you ever been in a debate with your right-wing uncle and when you ask him for proof of his wild claims, he pulls up a Fox News article? Instinctively, you roll your eyes. Of course he sought out Fox News as a source—it’s a haven for people like him. Everything he already thinks about minorities, LGBTQ people, Muslims and single moms is there. Automatically turning to Fox News to search for information that he knows will affirm what he already believes is called a confirmation bias.

On December 29, news broke that Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the new House majority whip, had addressed a white supremacist group in 2002. Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke founded the European-Unity and American Rights Organization, or EURO, in 2000, and Scalise, then a member of the state legislature, rallied the support of EURO members to oppose a proposed new tax. Amid critics’ demands that Scalise be pushed from his leadership role in the House, his fellow Republicans half-heartedly expressed support him, calling his appearance before the group a “mistake,” while Democrats offered a mixed response. The most vocal support from inside Congress, however, came from Mia Love, who represents a district in Utah.

Love recently made history by being the first black woman elected to Congress as a Republican. Despite her personal history as a child of Haitian immigrants, she holds extremely right-wing views on immigration and now, apparently, white supremacy. Congresswoman Love essentially gave Scalise a pass, saying that he should stay in his new leadership position. “He has been absolutely wonderful to work with. He's been very helpful for me and he has had the support of his colleagues," Love said on the January 4 edition of ABC’s This Week.

[marmar]

1. “He has been absolutely wonderful to work with."

I won't pretend to understand black right-wingers. I have a cousin who's a Repug and rattles off Faux News talking points at family reunions. Everyone just shakes their heads and looks at him like he's crazy. And to top it off, he looks like Allen West.

[Mike Nelson]

2. Not surprised...

She's another Sarah Palin... but with more power.

[BlueCaliDem]

3. Not only conservative Blacks, but Democratic Blacks, too. In fact, they're worse because

they lend more credibility than a conservative Black would since everyone expects a Republican to side with a Republican.

Louisiana Democratic Rep. Cedric Richmond defended colleague Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) amid reports that Scalise spoke at a white supremacist convention in 2002.

“I don't think Steve Scalise has a racist bone in his body," Richmond, who is black, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

"Steve and I have worked on issues that benefit poor people, black people, white people, Jewish people. I know his character."

[Fred Sanders]

4. Mia Love is also the first black woman elected who publically supports racists. Fundies of a feather

[NancyDL]

5. No they don't. They keep it from being a blacks only moveent.

They actually add to the credibility. What we need to do now is to show a LOT more concern with the plight of the working poor, including those who are both poor and white. We're missing them in a big way.

[bettyellen]

6. racial equality is helped by tolerating racist bullshit. Nope. Find your own "equality movement"

so you can continue to downgrade the concerns of those who care about racial justice from a far distance.

[WhiteTara]

7. They were put in those positions just so they would

hurt the quest for equality.