Joe Lowery and the history of a joke that failed
We are in a strange place when, days from a vote to pick an American president and – in Georgia – settle a statewide dispute over charter schools, political discourse is focused on a 91-year-old man attempting to explain a 50-year-old joke.
But that’s where a host of journalists and the Rev. Joseph Lowery had gathered on Friday, in a downtown Atlanta office building at the corner of Auburn Avenue and Absurd Street.
By definition, a dissected joke is a failed joke– no matter how reliable its service might have been in the past. The elder of the Civil Rights era knows this. Throughout his long life, he’s been something of a cut-up.
“I’ll say something at the beginning to relax people and cut through whatever hostility or apprehension there might be,” said Lowery, whose middle years at the height of the movement were fraught with hostility and apprehension.
This was the fellow who helped lead the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott in the ‘50s. He and Martin Luther King founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. You do not make people easy about race by ignoring the topic. You do it by confronting it.
Eight days ago, in the small town of Forsyth, Lowery and former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, 80, made a stop at a local church. It was part of an effort to boost votes for President Barack Obama in Georgia.
When Lowery’s turn to speak arrived, he dragged out a tried-and-true chestnut. “I told the story of when I was a bad militant, a bad fellow, I said, ‘White folks are going to hell.’ And it always got a laugh from white folks, because white folks don’t think they’re going to hell.
“But then when I got converted and became a preacher and Christian, I changed my mind,” Lowery continued. Only some white people, he decided, were hell-bound.
But a punchline requires bite, and this was it: Given their recent behavior, Lowery said, he’s considering a return to his original position.
The joke dates back to the 1960s, Lowery estimated. I probably first heard it in the 1980s. Diane Glidewell heard it for the first time last Saturday. She’s a writer for the Monroe County Reporter, the local weekly, and didn’t think it was a joke. Or funny.
“I’m frightened by the level of hatred and bitterness coming out in this election,” she quoted Lowery as saying.
Glidewell also wrote that Lowery used the n-word as he condemned the hundreds of thousands of black Georgians who won’t vote next Tuesday, even with an African-American president at the top of the ticket.
Lowery said he used the word “Negro” – and doesn’t employ the other phrase at all. The reporter says she has no audio recording.
Fox News and conservative outlets on the Internet couldn’t resist the headline over the Monroe Reporter article: “Lowery: Don’t think whites going to heaven.”
They focused on the fact that Lowery had delivered the benediction at Obama’s 2009 inauguration. Which was one reason that Lowery responded with his Friday session with reporters, attended by his wife Evelyn and a dozen white, black and tan supporters.
“Obviously, there are people that would like to use anything to get at the president. We’re not stupid. We know what’s happening,” Lowery said.
The name wasn’t mentioned, but there’s no doubt that Lowery also would rather not see his 60-year legacy go the way of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
“I’ve never been more surprised that people didn’t realize I was kidding, and took it and made something nasty of it,” Lowery said. “I would never wish anybody seriously to go to hell. We could never have had the gains in the Civil Rights movement without the support and participation from God knows how many white people. We certainly couldn’t have elected Obama,” he said.
Besides, people like Eleanor Roosevelt, Mother Theresa, Joe Biden, Madonna, Betty Grable and Hedy Lamarr – “You’re too young. Look her up” — all deserve their shot at the Pearly Gates, he said. Ba-dum-dum.
There is another reason worth paying serious attention to this fracas. For a man in his ninth decade, Lowery still wields serious clout in Georgia.
Only hours after the Monroe County Reporter posted its account of his speech online, Lowery’s voice was featured in a series of radio spots condemning Amendment One, the ballot measure to reaffirm state government’s authority to create charter schools – even when local school systems reject them.
The 60-second spots will be aired through Tuesday on stations with African-American audiences. “Don’t let them resegregate our schools,” Lowery says in the ads. He isn’t joking.
African-Americans in favor of the measure, and in search of alternatives to urban school systems, have politely hinted that Lowery is dating himself. “The time has come for us to move beyond the comparisons of education reform efforts to brutally painful and overtly inhumane periods in our nation’s history,” said state Rep. Rahn Mayo, D-Decatur.
There is no doubt that Lowery has learned that humor translates differently across the decades. “I will never use this story again!” he declared, reading from a prepared script.
“That’s probably not true,” Lowery then confessed, off-script. “I like that story. And it’s original. I didn’t steal it from Jesse Jackson, as he has stolen from me.”
Which is a joke — and a good one. Though it’s probably 50 years old, too.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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192 comments Add your comment
Mitch
November 3rd, 2012
9:14 am
He can try to walk it back all he wants, but the fact is that people like Joeseph Lowery use race-baiting to scare black voters every time an election comes around. Sadly, the only thing interesting about this story is that things haven’t changed.
Phil the Plumber
November 3rd, 2012
9:31 am
Double Standard. Seems like if it was on the other foot, Lowery would be screaming and hollering for someone’s throat. You can explain it as you like, it was racist to the core. Wright, Farrakhan and Lowery are all the same. The only difference between them and the KKK is they don’t wear sheets, they wear robes, suits and bow ties.
ComradeAnon
November 3rd, 2012
9:35 am
Mitch-why come here to comment of you aren’t going to read the article?
Observer
November 3rd, 2012
9:38 am
So if I tell a story or a joke often enough it becomes acceptable no matter how offensive it may be. Bigotry comes in all shapes, sizes, ages and colors.
This is Mrs. Norman Maine
November 3rd, 2012
9:39 am
So basically this Diane Glidewell person doesn’t understand hyperbole or humor and now she’s taken one sentence out of context and whipped into something it isn’t. Didn’t Breitbart do the same thing with Shirley Sherrod? That didn’t work very well for him or Fox News, did it? The really frightening thing is what’s coming out of journalism schools these days.
Lee
November 3rd, 2012
9:47 am
Galloway tries to excuse Lowery’s comment as a joke, but deep down, he knows that if ANY white person of prominence made a joke about “black folks going to Hell”, they would be skewered in the politically correct media – which includes Galloway and the AJC.
Lowery, Jackson, and others have lived off the civil rights largess for the past fifty years. It’s time to unseal those FBI files.
A black guy, a hispanic, and a white guy were on a plane……
Edward
November 3rd, 2012
9:54 am
Never let a fact or context ruin a conservative’s poutrage and ability to get all butthurt over nothing.
Baker
November 3rd, 2012
9:57 am
The problem is that it’s definitely believable that he would say that based on past behaviour.
Baker
November 3rd, 2012
10:01 am
Jim- No kidding he wields serious clout. He did the prayer at the inauguration for goodness sake.
D Right One
November 3rd, 2012
10:07 am
Some of those people Lowery referred to in his joke are still alive and the joke is still relevant. It’s as if we live in bizarro world and those devilish people, black and white, just disappeared. The reporter had an agenda and I don’t believe for a minute that Lowery would use the N word in a public speech.
daphne
November 3rd, 2012
10:19 am
Aw heck, anyone who knows the Rev. Lowery’s history knew the man and got the joke. I’m white, about 40 and voted for Obama, and I’ve received hordes of racist chain e-mails about the Obamas from the relatives back in the Midwest. I also watched Fox News commentators trying to stir up racist resentment shortly after Obama took office.
Ain’t everyone talkin’ about heaven, goin’ to heaven, as Mahalia Jackson sang. That’s true for black, white, tan, yellow, brown, pink or beige. Good writing, Galloway!
Taxi Smith
November 3rd, 2012
10:24 am
It’s always a “joke” when a black makes these kind of racist remarks. When it’s a white guy, he gets pilloried. Tired of it guys.
JK Dolamite
November 3rd, 2012
10:25 am
Lowery said exactly what he meant and has harbored these feeling for years. Its not about walking it back, its not about what Andy Young said “a preacher can’t decide who goes to hell”, its about his actual and real feelings of white people. Regardless of the civil rights movement and what people did to him which were mostly Democrats, attend a black church some Sunday, its about race, slavery and how whitey is gonna go to HELL!. Its about his inner hatred of our fellow brothers and sisters that happen to be labeled white. This is the underlining secret in the black community and some preachers of this era nobody want to talk about. It just came out because Lowery is old and old people’s true feelings come out with age. They are still stuck on slavery, Jim Crow and will never change. They see any issue regarding Barack Obama no matter how failed his policies are as he can’t get anywhere because of white people. He failed to realize, it was whites that put Obama in office and whites that will eventually decide if he remains there. To have those feeling in his heart and claim to represent Jesus is a tragedy but to express them he will answer to the true owner of the Church, Jesus
JK Dolamite
November 3rd, 2012
10:30 am
Hey Daphne, how about all the monkey jokes I got from black chain mails about George Bush and Laura Bush. Get real, blacks are just as racist and whites but the media never reports on this. I had a young white male tell me blacks can’t be racist so I told him to cut off his hair so he would look like a skin-head and walk around MLK or some inner city neighborhood. The police would be doing a homicide investigation on him.
Curious
November 3rd, 2012
10:30 am
Lowery meant what he said just like Romney meant what he said about the 47%.
Dash Riptide
November 3rd, 2012
10:38 am
I know white people who probably aren’t going to hell. Sometimes I wish I was one of them.
NotMe
November 3rd, 2012
10:41 am
This guy has been a big racists for a long time and nothing has changed. It is so ironic that
honested
November 3rd, 2012
10:43 am
Like it or not, the gist of Rev. Lowery’s remarks ring true.
kidding yourself
November 3rd, 2012
10:43 am
He may have felt as though he was joking, becauise he is that comfortable with his views and is desensitized to the feelings of whites today. He encourages black block voting, the very thing that is cosidered racist for white to do. Our president would never have been elected if the “majority” race had not voted impartially. Race relations will never improve in this country until blacks vote contrarilly to Mr. Lowery’s position. He is perhaps subconcioiusly a race-batter till the day he dies.
zeke
November 3rd, 2012
10:48 am
So does this church now lose it’s tax free status???
Satire Goes Two Ways
November 3rd, 2012
10:54 am
Well since the esteemable Joseph Lowery has made it okay I will once again tell every foul mouthed, racially insensitive joke I’ve been led to believe was unacceptable. How ironic that one of the master baiters (of race-get the clever double entendre?) himself has now declared ‘open season’ on his own people. Thanks dude! I don’t even have to glance over my shoulder before I launch ‘em anymore, I can just say, “Hey, dat Lowery dude said dis was okay as long as I called it a joke, Juss keepin’ it real bruh.”
SpaceyG
November 3rd, 2012
10:55 am
Dumb reporters come a dime a dozen. Let’s just call them “squibs.” (You Harry Potter devotees will know exactly what I’m talking about.) It’s way too much to ask that they also incorporate some historical perspective in their literal-minded ways. On the other hand, some chestnuts really do need to be retired in the new millenium.
BTW, isn’t “tried-and-true chestnut” a bit redundant? Less keybpard pounding, please. Otherwise, good post, Jimbo.
Ruckus
November 3rd, 2012
10:57 am
Wonder why Galloway failed to mention that the downtown office building that Lowery held his apology conference was the SCLC building? You know the one where different factions of black preachers have changed the locks several times, gone to court over who’s in charge and pointed fingers as to who’s been stealing the funds white folks donated to the organization.
GFJacket
November 3rd, 2012
10:58 am
When Donna Brazile said “…the problem with this country is white men”, I decided to never vote for another Democrat. Period. If I can’t support the other candidates on the ballot, I simply will not vote. But, I will never vote for another Democrat. Period.
mikeP(roswell)
November 3rd, 2012
10:59 am
BREAKING NEWS…THIS JUST IN!!! A 91 yr old man said something we find offensive..more at 10….really? give me a break..
ragnar danneskjold
November 3rd, 2012
10:59 am
“If you truly believe in the brotherhood of man, then you must believe that blacks are just as capable of being racists as whites are.” Thomas Sowell.
mikeP(roswell)
November 3rd, 2012
11:02 am
Wow…GF..Ive heard too many people make comments I find reprehensible….yet rational enough to not allow them to make a decision based solely on what THEY THOUGHT…dude think for yourself..
Sandy
November 3rd, 2012
11:03 am
The real joke is that there is no heaven and there is no hell. It’s just in your imagination.
GAPeach
November 3rd, 2012
11:03 am
As a white, Georgia native, it’s fine with me for Dr. Lowery to say that some white people might be going to hell (if you believe that a hell exists). I’m as tired as he is of the hatred, vitriol, and fact-free slings and barbs of the right wing. Dr. Lowery has been such a strong moral compass for social justice and the common good. He not only supports rights for African Americans, but stands with and speaks out for women, gays and lesbians, immigrants, the poor and perhaps most important the right to vote. He has shown so many of us the path towards MLKs beloved community.
Sweet William
November 3rd, 2012
11:04 am
I think black Americans are the most racist people on planet Earth.
mikeP(roswell)
November 3rd, 2012
11:05 am
Hell Rag..in some cases just as much…yet…still….how or why should that effect your decision making process…This entire article is about a 91 yr old man saying something others find offensive…i got news for ya…you can go to any “SHADY HOMES RETIREMENT CENTER” and fill your entire notepads with offensive quotes..
B
November 3rd, 2012
11:08 am
Why is it that whites have to be colorblind but blacks keep going back and breaking everything down by race?
HeD.nry
November 3rd, 2012
11:13 am
How does he explain the insults he hurled at George Bush to his face at Coretta King’s funeral? And Eddie Long is just as bad for not putting a stop to it in his pulpit and church. I am no fan of Obama and quite frankly I am praying he is defeated this week. Not because he is black, but because I don’t agree with his policies and I am afraid where we will be if has 4 more years at the helm. But as bad of a president as I think he has been, he still deserves respect because of the office he holds and not to be publicly humiliated and embarassed as Busg was. If Lowrey doesn’t agree with Bush, he should have had a private conversation with him, or at least chosen another forum to discuss it, not at a funeral.
WAW
November 3rd, 2012
11:14 am
Perhaps old preachers from days gone by like Joseph Lowery on the one hand and Billy Graham on the other should say things like, “I’m leaving this election up to the young folks who know more about what’s really happening than an old worn out apostle.” Find fault with Rev Lowery if you want but an equal sharing of Dr Graham’s political antics of late must also be acknowledged. You can’t have it one way.
Are all the Southern Baptist really going to worship the Devil’s brother at the local LDS church this Sunday? That’s the punch line of a current joke. How’d you like that one? Again, you can’t have one way.
JP
November 3rd, 2012
11:15 am
When Lowery’s turn to speak arrived, he dragged out a tried-and-true chestnut. “I told the story of when I was a bad militant, and member of the Klan, I said, ‘Black folks are going to hell.’ And it always got a laugh from black folks, because black folks don’t think they’re going to hell.
“But then when I got converted and became a preacher and Christian, I changed my mind,” Lowery continued. Only some black people, he decided, were hell-bound.
But a punchline requires bite, and this was it: Given their recent behavior, Lowery said, he’s considering a return to his original position.
mikeP(roswell)
November 3rd, 2012
11:18 am
Well Mr. Galloway, Bravo my friend…well done…youve stired the pot by sharing quote from a 91 yr old man…I dont care what color u are you put a mic in front of someone that old…what they hell can u expect?? However if your true objective was to get the white male all pissed this am, then you sir are a genius.!!!..I am sure just like GF Jacket, there are a few more that will also not vote democrat again because of what they read this morning…sad thing is if hannity, Rush, or instigators like you are only modem of politics these narrow minded men hear…”.I will never vote democrat again ” the angry white men say…which is the very reason why Gov. Deal is in office today….
gsmith
November 3rd, 2012
11:19 am
id like to see what would happen to the gov. of new jersey if he said that the jersey shore will remain lilly white after they rebuild…… like that idiot mayor of new orleans said that the city will remain a chocolate city after they rebuild new orleans??? racism only works one way
kidding yourself
November 3rd, 2012
11:19 am
At GaPeach:
What is wrong with being white. I am a white male and have never wronged the black community. White males are the most hated folks in America and I am sick and tired of being blamed for events that happened a century and a half ago. That is an old, tired argument and needs to have run its course.
Patty
November 3rd, 2012
11:25 am
No reverend, “white, black or tan” should be making jokes about who is or isn’t going to hell. That isn’t up to any of us to decide. Like so many of us, he should have set a watch over his mouth. I hope he’s learned his lesson.
Mary Elizabeth
November 3rd, 2012
11:35 am
” ‘But then when I got converted and became a preacher and Christian, I changed my mind,’ Lowery continued. Only some white people, he decided, were hell-bound.
But a punchline requires bite, and this was it: Given their recent behavior, Lowery said, he’s considering a return to his original position.”
===============================================
All I know is that when I read the above sentences, I laughed out loud, myself, this morning, and I’m a white woman in my senior years. Good humor always has a touch of truth within it. Here’s the truth: Today, there is only 1 white Democrat from Georgia sitting in the U.S. Congress. The other Democrats from Georgia are all African-Americans. All the former white Democrats have become Georgia’s Republican members of Congress. Rev. Lowery did not create that unfortunate situation. That switch was the choice of those former white Democrats. And, no one can make me believe that their switch was because of ideological changes. I am too old to believe that political spin. I know why they switched parties, and so do readers – deep inside. And, I say again – that their switch has been an unfortunate (and cowardly) one. Lowery simply wanted present day Georgians to reflect on their choices – and values – through a light, human touch of humor, and well he should have, especially since he is a man of God. (Btw, I am a white Democrat and I will remain a Democrat until I pass from this earth.)
The reporter from Macon appears to lack a good reporter’s needed human understanding of some degree of depth, in my opinion. This unfortunate incidence should be more a lesson for her, than for Lowery.
And, btw, Randys, in your 10:43 am post, if you are going to use a racial slur, at least learn how to spell it.
(That’s also a joke, folks, but it sure rings true – in more ways than one – about Randys, don’t you think?)
RCB
November 3rd, 2012
11:39 am
Jim, I think you spinned this a LOT more than the reporter from Forsyth. Nice try making Lowery appear to be a statesman. He never was and never will be because of stupid comments like that.
Mary Elizabeth
November 3rd, 2012
11:43 am
WAW, Rev. Graham was wrong in what he was trying to communicate; Rev. Lowery was not. President Obama is a Christian, just as Graham and Lowery are. Rev. Graham was misinformed.
peter lindstrom
November 3rd, 2012
11:44 am
And he is a Christian?
He is the same person that said at the last Atlanta Mayor election, “You all must vote for the black candidate”
He is a sorry joke of a person. Looks like he is the one going to Hell.
WAW
November 3rd, 2012
12:09 pm
Mary Elizabeth – Yes, I know the the President is a Christian. My point was that there is spin on both sides that is equally destructive.
Jason
November 3rd, 2012
12:10 pm
I’m white, I voted for McCain, and I’ll vote for Romney this time. Having said that, the joke is funny and it was spoken by a man who has earned the right to speak his mind. The man lived through an era of having firehoses turned on him, dogs loosed upon him, and the tip of the spear of the police power of the state pointed at him for using non-violent political expression to stare down a racist regime and changed people’s minds with powerful words and an enduring decision to turn the other cheek. If that same man has the grace to take that experience and see the humor in it, then I say good for him. There is something very dignified about someone who would probably be justified to use violence or vitriol, but opts instead for humor. To be honest, it embodies a lot of the more noble features of the WASP tradition. It made me like a man who I probably vehemently disagree with about a lot of things politically. Our political landscape needs more humor, more humanity and less shouting.
Veteran Observer
November 3rd, 2012
12:13 pm
Starr Parker, the African-American columnist said it best! When the older leadership of the NAACP PUSH, and the SCLC finally pass on we can make real progress in the black community on education, poverty, and race relations! These “leaders” blame everything on white people and ignore the real issues! They are completely irrelevant these days as represented by Mr Lowery’s comment. This is also why we have a president who has failed because he has grown up with them as his mentors(see Rev. Wright)!
Weetamoe
November 3rd, 2012
12:23 pm
It was no joke. I have heard him say it on other occasions. I have also seen incredibly rude behavior from him at Coretta Scott King’s funeral when he used his time to–instead of delivering a eulogy-deliver gratuitous insults to a sitting president and former president and in so doing dirty the memory of the great woman whose funeral service it was.
WAW
November 3rd, 2012
12:24 pm
Mary Elizabeth – Also – The Republican Party in Georgia was made up of Carpet Bagging Yankees who had moved South and brought their politics with them until the 1968 Democratic Convention. Bond presented an integrated delegation to challenge the credentials of the all white delegation headed by Lester Maddox. The Bond delegates were seated and the Maddox delegates got on a plane headed back to Atlanta. As the story goes (told by someone of the Maddox delegation) the Chairman of the Georgia Democratic Party took the intercom to announce, “Well folks, I think we just became Republicans”.
Robert
November 3rd, 2012
12:24 pm
This is a racist comment by a race-baiter who made a living by dividing people, not uniting them. The liberal media has tried to make Joseph Lowery into some patriarchal figure, but he is not. His recent involvement in lawsuits against cities such as Sandy Springs and Brookhaven have shown, time and again, that he plays the “race card” for power, not for unity. Lowery’s comment is condescending at best…as if HE gets to choose who goes to Heaven or not. It also reinforces bigotry in the minds of the “black church” audience.
I personally go to a church where people come in all colors…white, black, yellow, red. Our church is not organized along race lines, but is there for the purpose of the church…a gathering of Christians for worship, not to make political statements. Even without the race issue, there’s nothing Godly about using religion to play politics. Money changers in the temple should have their tables overturned.
ragnar danneskjold
November 3rd, 2012
12:26 pm
Dear MikeP , thanks for that report on the cost of bananas in China.
honested
November 3rd, 2012
12:30 pm
Whatever the comments, I certainly hop Rev. Lowery accomplished the task at hand and GETS OUT THE VOTE.
I am sick of the failure of the current OnePartyState in GA and the smugness with which the failed ‘leaders’ continue to expand failed policies.
Only with the votes of EVERYONE can we set about returning GA to a positive, growth oriented, progressive State!
Monica
November 3rd, 2012
12:37 pm
Ahm, I’ve seen the video of that speech. WTF. It wasn’t a joke, he wasn’t laughing nor was anyone else. 91 years-old man. It is what it is, respect the elderly but just don’t take them seriously, his mind is going… I don’t mean to be crass, but this country will be much better off once those civil rights leaders pass on, maybe then we can all move on and stop bringing up something that truly is no longer relevant, we have a black president for crying out loud.
Robert
November 3rd, 2012
12:38 pm
Mary Elizabeth, quit with the self-hate. Get real. I just voted for Rep. John Lewis. I don’t hear Lewis make race-baiting comments like the “Reverend” Lowery does. Lowery’s “joke” was racist, plain and simple. Judging by different standards is racist, whether you are white or not.
Robert
November 3rd, 2012
12:41 pm
One more comment: age is no excuse, neither are collected titles. Billy Graham’s anti-gay comments are reprehensible, as are “Rev” Joseph Lowery (even though the Bible says that “Only God is Reverend”, so those titles should not be used). Age 93 or 91 is still quite young when compared with supercentenarians, people old enough to be these guy’s mothers.
Lee
November 3rd, 2012
12:42 pm
How’s this: All white people who voted for Obama are going to Hell.
Mary Elizabeth
November 3rd, 2012
12:43 pm
WAW, please know that I was born in south Georgia in 1942. I have known, firsthand, all about the injustice of racial prejudice in Georgia for 70 years, now.
TO REV. JOSEPH LOWERY: I hope that you will continue to use your wise voice to speak out for moral justice in today’s Georgia and in today’s America. If no one had spoken out against slavery in the 18th and 19th centuries, and if no one had spoken out against Jim Crow in the South in the 19th and 20th centuries, then nothing would have changed regarding “man’s inhumanity to man” in our nation. African-Americans, and others of good conscience, have helped our nation to keep evolving toward its highest ideals of egalitarianism. May God continue to bless you, and to keep your truthful, courageous voice present, as an instrument for His divine purposes.
Lester Maddox....
November 3rd, 2012
12:43 pm
Folks Please……..This is where Babbling Joe Biden gets his material…..Vote Joe in ‘16…….
Robert
November 3rd, 2012
12:48 pm
A computer would say these comments are racist. Those who believe they need to “compensate” for the past do not. The fact of the matter is, scientific studies show that 80% of the human population are biased in favor of people that “look like them”. This is a tribal instinct…persons in groups were more likely to survive than people outside of groups. Note that in Kenya and Tanzania right now, albinos (”white” colored “black” people) are often killed, and their limbs are used for potions by witch-doctors. The whole argument that “blacks can’t be racist because only those in power are racist” is a fallacy. We see in the city of Atlanta and Fulton county a long, long term history of “black political power,” from a black mayor for 39 consecutive years, to black police chiefs, fire chiefs, the Fulton County Commission chairman, and the majority of African-American commissioners. When I went to vote last week in Buckhead, though 80% of the voters were white, 100% of the poll workers were black…no whites, no Asians, no Hispanics. Is that not “insitutional racism”, whereby the people who do the hiring tend to hire “people that look like them.”
If one really wants to move away from the tribalistic, us-against-them approach, then voters should decide who to vote for based on ISSUES, NOT THE COLOR OF THE CANDIDATES. I don’t see “Rev” Lowery going to non-African American churches to preach for them to “vote for Obama.” And by the way, religion and politics shouldn’t mix, so how about dropping tax breaks for religious institutions that are used for political “get out the vote” drives. That’s what I thought.
Robert
November 3rd, 2012
12:54 pm
Mary,
You may have experienced anti-black racism in South Georgia decades ago…but that is just one experience. What if you had lived, instead, as a white person in a 98% black community, such as parts of Detroit? You would have experienced anti-white racism instead. Racism is about the majority in power maintaining that power. However, who is the “majority” tends to change, and more often than we might think. 500 years ago, the area that is Georgia was majority Native American. Right now, it is majority white. 100 years from now, it may be that there is no majority of anyone. Already, US states such as California and Texas are not majority-white. If you are truly concerned about the concept of race, power, and equal opportunity, then you need to clear your mind of the idea that racism goes only one way and instead embrace the concept of a post-racial society, where people are judged, as MLK said, not by the color of their skin, but the content of their character. Attempting to overcompensate for past anti-black racism is, in fact, still racist, because you are judging groups of people by their skin color.
Balance
November 3rd, 2012
12:57 pm
So let me understand this. People want to through down the sensitivity red card over a joke. Let’s have a flash back. I didn’t see these sensitive people when that business owner in North Ga put a sign out that said get that N out the white house. I didn’t the red card thrown when Rick Santorum almost said the N word in a speech. Nobody said anything when Herman Cain said the reason the majority of black republicans voices have not been heard is because they are out working and not at home doing nothing. Nobody jumped u[ when Collin Powell, an avid republican, was accused of voting for Obama just because he is black. People just want to throw that card just to say that black folk can be racist too. And that reporter says she did not want to gain attention. We as black people should forgive and not blame everything on the black/white card, however we shall never forget so that past actions and treatment will never happen again. Some people will never climb down from VS mountain.
“I’m frightened by the level of hatred and bitterness coming out in this election,” she quoted Lowery as saying.
November 3rd, 2012
1:08 pm
Really? You old race-baiting bigiot, just shut up.
Motocross Survivor
November 3rd, 2012
1:08 pm
Write in Ron Paul, even if it doesn’t “count.” The US will continue the slide whoever of the two main candidate dregs wins. Do you really believe it makes a hill of beans difference?
What's the problem?
November 3rd, 2012
1:14 pm
No problem…only White Liberals and Blacks have the right to Free Speech.
Dirty Dawg
November 3rd, 2012
1:19 pm
Watch out Joseph, you’ve given ‘them’ an opening, even at 91, with those comments about Hedy Lamar, Betty Grable, etc., to say, ’see there, just another black man lusting after white women.
My Two Cents
November 3rd, 2012
1:21 pm
Joe Lowery is the REAL joke here – a really bad joke!
Dirty Dawg
November 3rd, 2012
1:26 pm
You know this whole thing wreaks of just more ‘false equivalence’…fact is no way the feelings could ever be equivalent so long as there’s no history of gangs of black men lynching white men in order to make examples of em.
JohnPaul2
November 3rd, 2012
1:50 pm
Rev. Joseph Lowery could not hold Rev. Billy Graham’s proverbial “jockstrap”…
Selah…
Rafe Hollister
November 3rd, 2012
1:54 pm
Didn’t sound like a joke to me! Usual excuse that works for blacks, but not for Trent Lott, when he made a joke about Strom. Good job Diane, pointing out how Lowery, once again, was trying to inflame the base with fear, as do the Dems in all elections.
Mary Elizabeth
November 3rd, 2012
1:57 pm
Robert, your words are logical but they still tend to polarize, imo. The only way to transcend racial hatred is through compassion and love, not by the “winning” logical points as to which group or groups is/are more right or wrong.
When I first started teaching I was the only white person in an all black segregated elementary school. I ended my full-time educational career 30 years later teaching in an (essentially) all black suburban high school. However, half of the staff were white and half were black. The staff worked well together as colleagues with the mutual purpose of serving all of the students well.
As Martin Luther King understood, when faced with hatred of those who are not as elevated as oneself in any situation, one must practice love not hate, in return. I have no doubt that many of various races and ethnic groups have intense dislike toward those of other groups, but as a teacher to my core, I will always try to diffuse that hatred through the enlightenment of love, not through the “proof” of logic.
Moreover, when one considers the sweep of history, slavery in America and Jim Crow in the South are relatively recent phenomena. Society does not overcome the destructiveness of those social systems in only a few years. The effects linger for generations and one of those effects will be anger of some toward others. Understanding historical effects and practicing love in the face of hatred will do more good for humanity than simply “choosing sides.” In truth, we are all on the same side, for we are all human beings. However, we must confront each situation that life will present to us individually, and within our time, with love, rather than with undue judgment. That includes being the only white person in an all black Detroit neighborhood or school or a segregated south Georgia neighborhood or school.
We do not become “post-racial” simply by proclaiming it to be so, or by ignoring racial phenomena as we exist within it currently, but by seeing it as it is, and by healing racial and ethnic difficulties with love for all humanity.
I think you and I may be after the same goal but our visions in how to move society toward a state of consciousness that will embrace differences in humans as beauty – as flowers are each different but each beautiful in its own unique way – while simultaneously recognizing that all humans are essentially the same, i.e. “all are created equal,” is somewhat different in our perspectives of how to arrive at that level of consciousness.
puff
November 3rd, 2012
2:08 pm
Wonder if the AJC generally and Galloway in particular will be as gentle the next time a conservative says something this lame to explain a major malaprops. I’m guessing no.
There is not a bigger racist in Georgia than Lowery. No not one.
Steve Perkins (De Kalb Democrat)
November 3rd, 2012
2:14 pm
Spare me the fake outrage. It was a joke ,An Old joke one that he has tole many many times. What is not a joke it what one of your own sidi just a couple of days ago. Mike Huckabee said that anyone who voted for President Obama was risking their eternal life…Where was your outrage then?
Attack Dog
November 3rd, 2012
2:27 pm
I’m not sure I understand what he said was so wrong, and it was not a joke. At least he changed, but Dixiecrats have remained the same most vile, evil, bulling, thin-skinned creatures on the planet. Do we want to have a dialogue about the statements made by evangelical “preachers?” So, let’s see how many Dixiecrats defend them…Holla!
Attack Dog
November 3rd, 2012
2:31 pm
Are we saying that those who were hung, shot, bitten, and treated like 4th class citizens are to be forgotten, but we are suppose to praise Dixiecrats with “Hell No, I Ain’t Forgettin’” tags?
bud
November 3rd, 2012
2:34 pm
Do you have a degree in smart sciences?
Wilbur
November 3rd, 2012
2:37 pm
Lowrey’s racist comments line right up with his comments at Obama’s inauguration. If this is what post racial, hope and change looks like, I will pass.
Black racism is still racism.
emz
November 3rd, 2012
2:53 pm
I agree with GAPeach @ 11:03 am.
Attack Dog
November 3rd, 2012
3:06 pm
Some might say that Rev. Joseph Lowery could not hold Rev. Billy Graham’s proverbial “jockstrap,” but Rev. Graham never suffered under the hands of Dixiecrats. On the other hand, Franklin Graham is not worthy of even being mentioned, let alone carrying the jockstraps of Rev. Lowery or his father.
captguitarman
November 3rd, 2012
3:09 pm
Reasonable and fair minded white folks, who believe “that people should be judged by their character and not by the color of their skin” to quote a famous person, and who support equal opportunity, equal rights, civil rights, integration, and equal pay for equal work, and who do not cast their votes based upon color (as millions of them demonstrated in 2008), but on character, ability, and reasoned political thinking — yes all of those white people — listen up.
Be prepared if Obama is not re-elected. Be prepared to receive the greatest onslaught of racial hypocrisy, racial recrimination, and pure racial vitriol ever expounded by a political party and its lamestream media wing, in our nation’s history. In the minds of Lowery and other bad to the bone Obama loyalists, if you did not vote for Obama the last time, and if you did and do not this time . . . . it was and will be for only ONE reason. YOU ARE A RACIST. You are a racist to you white bigoted, ignorant “Obama hating” core. Your ignorant, hateful, and racist heart just cannot stand the thought of a black man in the White House.
Lack of economic leadership, deficits that will never be re-paid, incompetence, unemployment, the housing crisis, the Mid East foreign policy based on fantasy??? All vallid reasons??? No way. Four years, two with both houses of Congress, was not enough. If Obama loses, it will be because, and ONLY BECAUSE, a white, still racist to its rotten core, America reared its ugly head and threw him out of office. They are already saying it. What do you think it will be like if he loses?
Just get ready for it. And their actions will unfortunately lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy, and many fair minded white Americans will be inclined to just give up and say what’s the use? How sad. Lowery and his friends might want to think about whether the real racists are staring back at them in the mirror when they shave in the morning.
someone else
November 3rd, 2012
3:24 pm
The problem I have is not the issue of where anyone will be spending their eternity, that is not thebiggest problem with the statement. It is the idea of “white people’s recent behavior”. How can that be anything but racist? If someone else talked about “black people’s recent behavior”, would anyone see that as anything but racist? Does he truly believe “white people” act as a group that should be condemned? Or was his clarification was that he can name a handful of whites who can be excepted, so he is not a racist. And is voting against Obama the evil that “white people” do? Fortunately, he is not in charge of where anyone else spends eternity. I just hope he learns how to spend his time now loving more and condemning less.
Craig Gustafson
November 3rd, 2012
3:38 pm
Romney has 100 million in a trust fund in Switzerland. Its called tax evasion. I have no problem with your conservative values. Thats why America is great. The day we cant hear you is the day freedom is gone. But i do have a problem with your complete lack of effort in doing anything to to find a proper representative. Romney is as un-concerned about you as he is me. Michelle Bachman spends more time talking about gay sex than gays do. CREEPY, CREEPY, CREEPY! And, from here it seems like you’d fight to the death to keep a fetus alive (in someone elses body) but once the fetus becomes an infant – well ain’t your problem. Find your happiness mind your own business, and count your blessings. Quit bitching. Well bitch if you want, but stay off the damn freeway if you dont wanna pay taxes. Americans are the most fortunate people on the planet…..thats not going to change now that China can feed itself, or Arabs are trying to lift their heads out of hell, or if Blacks (or Mexicans)have the same freedoms you do. Whatever you do or dont do do remember the real Jesus
forgives you.
Craig Gustafson
November 3rd, 2012
3:42 pm
oh, and The Rev. is awesome whether or not you agree.
Shar
November 3rd, 2012
3:47 pm
What Dr. Lowery said is neither funny nor appropriate. It’s the effort to push himself back into relevance in a world that has grown beyond his influence – partially, and to his credit, as a result of his own efforts.
However, when he is reduced to using racist remarks to get people to notice him, it’s time for him to quietly fade away before he permanently damages what he worked so hard to achieve.
Is is racist? Yes, without a doubt. If a white person cannot flip the races around and say it without giving offense, it’s racist. It’s also rather pathetic, in that it is spoken in the vein of the old-timey black yes-man, using knowing innocence to tweak The Man.
A sad ending for a brave statesman.
Al Sharpton
November 3rd, 2012
3:53 pm
US of KKKA, People that say they are tired of the right wing, what about the left wing that wants illegals to vote. They want your child to have free contraceptives without your permission along with abortions without letting you know. I guess you will find out when she bleeds to death. What about giving murders access to air conditioning, cable, and state paid education, all at the victims expense. How about the left taking your money and telling you I have to live in your house or demand you give me 1/4 of the food in your refrigerator. How about how the left has re segregated society with their class warfare rhetoric.
Obama is a product of Marxism, progressiveness of the 1920’s and Sal Alinsky. The left has done a great job at convincing black preachers its OK to kill your baby, they even gave Martin Luther King an award, it was form planned parenthood for his buying into their dogma blacks are human weeds that need to be mowed down. This is a declining race soon to be extinct.
Al Sharpton
November 3rd, 2012
3:58 pm
The 100 million is call a blind trust and Obama has money in the Caymens, its call a investment portfilio. American is becoming a nation of dumb jack%%%% that believe anything George Soros and media matters will tell them. Common sense would have told you Craig, Romney was governor of Mass, ran for the presidency in 2008 and this lie did not surface until a community organizer repeatedly lied until you believe it. The IRS would have fine and made this public after his tax disclosure. You are just too dumb and liberal to realize this.
Mary Elizabeth
November 3rd, 2012
4:02 pm
Shar, I have agreed with you in other matters, but I disagree with you regarding Rev. Lowery. I continue to urge Joseph Lowery to exercise his voice.
Wisdom comes to any who are receptive to it, and wisdom knows no age. I perhaps am closer to Rev. Lowery’s generation than you are because I reacted with a smile to the humor in his remarks. Rev. Lowery is neither a petty, nor a malicious, man. Age has no bearing on one’s ability to see and to contribute.
Sweet William
November 3rd, 2012
4:14 pm
Anyone that thinks Joe Lowrey is a great man is a dumba$$. He might have been a great man at one time. Now he is a cancer along with Sharpton and Jackson. They’ll be little racial healing until those racial profiteers are gone. Tavis Smiley might be another one to prolong the healing.
Mary Elizabeth
November 3rd, 2012
5:13 pm
MM, 5:54 pm
Beautifully analyzed and stated essay. You speak truth, imo. I agree with you with one exception. Rev. Lowery should have backed down from his remarks, somewhat, because, as he well knew, his remarks would have been used and twisted as to Lowery’s intent by those of devious motivation to effect the election.
Edward
November 3rd, 2012
5:16 pm
Cue the whining and faux poutrage of the continually butthurt conservatives.
Mary Elizabeth
November 3rd, 2012
5:17 pm
NOTE to readers:
I do not know how my remarks – which I wrote at 6:13 pm – got posted at 5:13 pm. My remarks should have followed MM’s 5:54 pm comments, not preceded them. Technical error, I feel certain.
jgalloway
November 3rd, 2012
5:29 pm
Sorry, Mary Elizabeth. In anticipation of the loss of daylight savings time, I had switched the clock on the blog.
cc
November 3rd, 2012
5:34 pm
All white conservatives are racists. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Joseph Lowery and Jeremiah Wright are heroes.
That’s the way it works, isn’t it?
Steve Barden
November 3rd, 2012
5:35 pm
I find it sad that a man who walked with Martin Luther King Jr. would tell a joke with the premise that one can judge the content of a person’s character by the color of his or her skin. I can ignore his bigotry, but the hypocrisy is profoundly disappointing.
MM
November 3rd, 2012
5:54 pm
I understand why many whites are made uncomfortable by Lowery’s statement which, decades after it was made, still reflects the angry resentment of many Black Americans today which they seldom voice when whites, or the media, are listening. The Christian religion explicitly urges compassion toward the poor which are disproportionately black. We pick-and-choose what legitimizes our selfishness and ignore the rest. Old story I know but behind it lurks the true evil that Christ actively opposed. We are not the good people we would like to think. This is no joking matter.
What Lowery said about whites going to hell makes sense only if you are a true Christian and not just someone looking to legitimize their position of accumulated advantage. Conservative political correctness tries to make the world a more comfortable place for those that let their less productive brethren rot on the vine. If you have the moral courage, drive around south Atlanta south of downtown and you’ll see what I mean. Depending on the depth of your conscience, you might feel you have to do something about it. Not just help out with a few cans of food around the holidays or shallow volunteerism but actually confront the powerful political forces that refuse to deal with his problem because it would decrease their wealth. Drive around North Atlanta if you want to see white folks going to hell. Many Christian’s real religion is based on gain from a law-of-the-jungle economy which has historically been brutal toward the less powerful. In Jesus’ time as it is in ours.
Lowery’s days of confronting racism are well behind him. Like Young, after the civil rights time, he settled for becoming a member of the black royalty that has been given lip service respect by the white media elites because they can be trusted to tamp down any talk of black resistance like that implied by the anger of “white folks are going to hell.” It was sad to read that Lowery backtracked on his comments. He wants to maintain his position of “respect” and advantage just the same as whites. King would cry.
Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” Jesus physically attacked the moneychangers in the temple while we try to elect them president.
Attack Dog
November 3rd, 2012
5:55 pm
Rush, Drudge, Bill, etal are the real racial profiteers, and are really good at it. That is what is meant by throwing Dixiecrats some “red meat,” Phrases like “Blah” people, lazy-shiftless, food stamps people, nappyhead, shuckin’ and jivin’, uppity, and then have the nerve to say, they didn’t mean anything by it!
JP
November 3rd, 2012
6:11 pm
“Sorry, Mary Elizabeth. In anticipation of the loss of daylight savings time, I had switched the clock on the blog.”
Jim, that would be, “daylight saving time,” as opposed to, “daylight savingS time.”
And this was the worst article I have read from the AJC this week. I’m sure you’ll churn out several more gems next week.
Mary Elizabeth
November 3rd, 2012
6:11 pm
jgalloway, 5:29 pm
“Sorry, Mary Elizabeth. In anticipation of the loss of daylight savings time, I had switched the clock on the blog.”
=================================
No problem, Jim. I later figured out that the time change was probably what had caused the “back to the future”
posting of my remarks. I simply wanted to alert readers to think of my 5:13 pm post as actually following MM’s comments at 5:54 pm – in response to his/her thoughts..
Sweet William
November 3rd, 2012
6:17 pm
Attack Dog – How many millions and millions have Sharpton and Jessie Jackson pocketed off of playing the race card? How about the Duke Lacrosse deal? No retraction after that turned out to be total BS. Both are are liars and bullsh1t artist. However, they’ve gotten filthy rich doing so and haven’t been held accountable in the slightest for their reckless behavor. They get paid handsomely for racism to continue to exist!
Truth is
November 3rd, 2012
6:18 pm
You can argue all you want “if a white person said that….”. I live in this area and white people say racist stuff all the time to other white people and use the “n” word and it’s not Negro. They just don’t do it in mixed company.
bigbill
November 3rd, 2012
6:41 pm
@Mary Elizabeth 12:43 PM
Your statements of support for Reverend Lowery are most appreciated by many, many of us white folks who have long admired what he and Doctor King achieved in their campaign for human and civil rights in our country. I am 69 years old and have lived in the South since I was 4 years old and have lived for the last 59 years in Atlanta with brief stays elsewhere in the South. I too witnessed the evils of racism and segregation growing up and living most of my life in Atlanta. And I and many millions of others see how Atlanta and our entire country have, in great part, been transformed into a more just society by the civil rights movement these men led.
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Joseph Lowery inspired millions of us -black and white – to seek equity and justice for those who were poor and oppressed and denied the most basic civil rights. We are so fortunate to still have Reverend Lowery walking among us, this man whose life and deeds have been a shining example, a beacon for all of us. Dr. King and all those other brave civil rights martyrs who gave their lives, to ensure, among many other things, the rights of black people to vote and whose names are enshrined at the Civil Rights Memorial at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, will never be forgotten. They should especially be remembered now at a time when powerful reactionary radical right-wing forces are doing everything in their power to suppress the votes of black citizens, hispanic,the elderly, women and students, especially now when these forces seek the repeal of the 1963 Voting Rights Act which was enacted under the leadership of Dr. King and Reverend Lowery after so many sacrificed their very lives for these precious rights. Thanks, Elizabeth, for keeping the flame burning!
AB
November 3rd, 2012
6:57 pm
Beautifully said Big Bill!
bigbill
November 3rd, 2012
7:10 pm
Thanks, Jim Galloway, for putting things in perspective about this incident with Reverend Lowery. What you said so eloquently about this business is worth repeating: “You do not make people easy about race by ignoring the topic. You do it by confronting it.” Despite Reverend Lowery using an old joke to do it, he still has a valuable message to impart. This is what Reverend Lowery has been doing his whole life. For me and millions of others he is a genuine American hero, an icon of justice and human rights.
cc
November 3rd, 2012
7:12 pm
What a love fest! Let’s all join hands and sing, “We shall overcome . . .”
Mary Elizabeth
November 3rd, 2012
7:20 pm
Bigbill, I very much appreciate your comments addressed to me at 6:41 pm.
Many today, who have been programmed to think in terms of balancing “sides” equally in order to achieve some kind of supposed equity, cannot possibly understand the enormity of injustices of body and spirit that were perpetuated upon those who actually transformed America for the better. These transformational Americans, like Rosa Parks, Dr. King, Rev. Lowery, John Lewis among many others, simply saw what real justice and truth should be, and they would not rest until injustice and falseness were exposed and overcome, regardless of the personal consequences that might befall them and their families within that more repressed and dangerous America than the one we live in today. I could never stand in their shoes and I don’t pretend to, but I can, at the very least, speak the truth of what had transpired in those years to today’s Americans who are 55 and younger. We are destined to repeat history if we do not understand our history in depth and in truth. And, as you astutely point out, we are in danger of returning to a more repressed America, today, if we are not wise as to what that repression entails and how it comes about to a manipulated and unsuspecting public.
Many have little idea how dangerous a repressed society can be for all Americans. I pray that America will never return to that type of repressed society, in which all must think the same and one in which platitudes of thought – based on a surface reality instead of depth of understanding – must be accepted as reality by all, whether it is or not. A repressed society is one that is based on fear instead of freedom, lies instead of truth, and coercion instead of love.
The Shoe Is Own The Other Foot
November 3rd, 2012
8:04 pm
This is what black people have been subjected to for years.
Like this joke:
“What did the Alabama sherriff call the black person who had been shot 15 times?
Worst case of suicide he had ever seen. ”
How many of you on this blog were OUTRAGED when it was
being said about a black person?
You are ONLY OUTRAGED when its ABOUT YOU.
You think it is OKAY when its about others.
Fartavious
November 3rd, 2012
8:14 pm
With Joe Lowery as well as with Barack Hussein Obama, where there is smoke there is fire.
The Shoe Is Own The Other Foot
November 3rd, 2012
8:19 pm
@Fartavious
November 3rd, 2012
8:14 pm
With Joe Lowery as well as with Barack Hussein Obama, where there is smoke there is fire.
========================================
If the shoe is on the other foot, YOU ARE experiencing what YOU used
to make others experience,
You AIN’T LAUGHING NOW ARE YOU?
The Shoe Is Own The Other Foot
November 3rd, 2012
8:21 pm
@cc
November 3rd, 2012
7:12 pm
What a love fest! Let’s all join hands and sing, “We shall overcome . . .”
==================================
YOU are a DAY LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT.
YOU PEOPLE burned that bridge YEARS AGO.
The Shoe Is Own The Other Foot
November 3rd, 2012
8:31 pm
@cc
November 3rd, 2012
5:34 pm
All white conservatives are racists. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Joseph Lowery and Jeremiah Wright are heroes.
That’s the way it works, isn’t it?
===========================================
I retired and moved to a small town.
They RE-ENACT THE CIVIL WAR HERE AT LEAST 2 TIMES A YEAR.
WHITE PEOPLE JUST WON’T LET IT DIE.
YOU LOST THE CIVIL WAR AND YOU ARE NOW LOSING
THE BATTLE AND YOU CAN’T TAKE IT.
cc
November 3rd, 2012
8:43 pm
“They RE-ENACT THE CIVIL WAR HERE AT LEAST 2 TIMES A YEAR.”
That should be done on a quarterly basis! If you’ll give me the name of the town, I’ll report them to the Sons of Confederate Veterans for not doing that quarterly.
Slackers . . .
Oscar Knight
November 3rd, 2012
8:52 pm
…”Lopsided Lowery” is now known as “Flip Flopping Lopsided Lowery”
cc
November 3rd, 2012
9:03 pm
The Shoe Is Own The Other Foot:
Bernie, I’ve noted that your posts have become more and more irate over the past few months. Although your posts have always been nonsensical, they are becoming even more difficult to understand. I know that you now realize that Hussein will NOT be returned to office, and I sense that this is causing you some pain. Obama will unfortunately do to black people exactly what Jimmy Carter did for Georgia. Jimmy Carter insured that no Georgian will soon be elected president after his miserable performance.
By the way, I noted that Hussein and the boy wonder Biden are STILL using the phrase, “bin Louden is dead and GM is alive.” You might suggest to them that they should be saying, “Al Qaeda is alive and four Americans are dead, thanks to my administration.”
Tuesday will come and go, Bernie, but your hurts will heal and, in time, you will grow to love and respect President Romney . . .
Vote for Obama cause he's black
November 3rd, 2012
9:50 pm
Seems like the only blacks obsessed with race are blacks born in America,especially if they are from the south.
They must a have a very deep inferiority complex ?
I have never heard a black person from a foreign country like Nigeria,Kenya,Eithiopia,Ruwanda,Uganda,or anywhere in the African continent play the race card,nor have I seen reverse racism.
Only blacks born in the U.S.
How come ?
WAW
November 3rd, 2012
10:19 pm
Bigbill – Mary Elizabeth: I was born in 1943 and have never lived outside of Georgia and I graduated from an all white segregated high school. I agree that younger folks have no idea what Jim Crow was like for blacks or whites. Nor do they understand how we a moving back to the revisionist, reconstruction era at a very rapid pace. As someone pointed out, in recent history Georgia has had two one term Democratic Governors; the first integrated the schools and the second took down the Confederate Flag. As yet there is little real change in racial attitudes. The buzz words and spin have new substitutes but no real change has taken place. If the Georgia Legislature continues on its present course, we’ll reinstate not only Jim Crow but enact Juan Crow laws as well.
“On January the 20th they are going to change the commodes in the White House.” Yet another recent joke from a non-racist white right wing supporter (and yes, I still call him a friend). If you’ve read “the Help” you’ll get it.
Mary Elizabeth
November 3rd, 2012
11:38 pm
WAW, I am glad you understand that “if the Georgia Legislature continues on its present course, we’ll reinstate not only Jim Crow but enact Juan Crow laws as well.”
But, if your friend said these words to you, “On January the 20th they are going to change the commodes in the White House,” all I can say in response is, “How very sad,” not only because of the accepted racism in your friend’s words, but also because of his lack of maturity and the lingering juvenile consciousness in an adult who should have, by now, reached a higher level of consciousness.
Mary Elizabeth
November 3rd, 2012
11:49 pm
P.S. WAW,
I think you should tell your friend how his “joking” remarks about the change of commodes in the White House has demeaned him in your eyes – and for the reasons I stated to you. We must never remain silent in the face of bigotry such as his. Silence is interpreted as agreement to people of your friend’s level of consciousness, which has the effect of perpetuating the bigotry and racism.
Oh No, not the New Jim Crow
November 4th, 2012
4:53 am
Thank God for southerners like Mary Elizabeth and WAW who are able to see the humanity of our non-white citizens and heroes, and appreciate the grace of a joke spoken by a righteous but very human man, who could have helped create a culture of death and violent retribution to fight against American racial tyranny, but chose to turn the other cheek.
I think any honest, intelligent person would understand that Lowery’s joke contains some biblical context which includes some elements of the Jacob and Esau story and the righteous resentment of stolen inheritance/birthrights. Many of our right-wing brothers want nothing more than to white wash our shared history to help prop up their self esteem, but it is dangerous to not learn from history.
You can’t learn from history if you seek to distort it for comfort. We all stand on the shoulders of ALL of our fathers and mothers, and mine had part of their labor(and countless other things) stolen from their families and redistributed to white communities – from the1600’s to 1960-1970…
This did not stop by law(remember whites only libraries, schools, the UGA – the chain gang, the convict lease system) until the sixties and seventies, so please stop saying that white supremacy stopped after slavery was abolished.
Keep in mind, slavery by any other name continued in various forms in our criminal justice system through out the first half of the 20th century. Again, the 13th amendment ALLOWED slavery to punish a crime, please read the 13th amendment where this is clearly stated, and paraphrased below:
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.
Slavery by any other name, known as the convict lease system/the chain gang, debt-slavery under sharecropping for both whites and blacks, among other things and did not die out until after WW2, and made a lot of white southern businesses rich( including – Agriculture, Masonry, steel mills, coal mines, etc). The convict lease system was sometimes worse and diabolically even more efficient than slavery since without the property rights of a master, convicts were literally worked to death, and then replaced by more convicts.
Many of these convicts, often times were just unfortunate souls whose only crime was being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time by greedy, godless people looking to make a buck. The root of ALL evil, is the love of money.
I’m African-American, and my family moved back to the ATL in 1968 to a mostly white neighborhood that, that quickly turned 90+% black within a year, behind the desperate and hateful influence of the Dixiecrats/Democrats that did everything they could think of to make whites resentful and fearful of civil rights legislation in the sixties and seventies. Be careful that these Dixiecrats kids and grandkids(Reagan republicans) don’t take up a watered down, revised version of the old Jim Crow to try to stop any fair political power sharing based on ALL of our interests(including black and latino issues). I am thinking of hastily crafted and implemented voter ID laws that targets likely democrat voters, a prison industrial system that locks up large segments of non-violent minority drug offenders for profit, Stand your ground laws that make my beautiful, 14 year old son who has made straight A’s for the past 4 years, the target of some easily frightened man – championed by the Koch brothers, whose father was one of the founders of the John Birch society(they worked to defeat the voting rights and civil rights bills of the sixties and seventies)… just to name a few.
Many of these often Reagan racially resentful or willfully racially ignorant republicans can’t stand any suggestion that black folks don’t understand what was stolen from them, and how it still impacts EVERYONE today, even when said through a joke!!!
There is no moral equivalency between a cutting joke from a non-violent preacher, and a terrorist and criminal organization, like the KKK, or ANY of it’s confederate minded apologists and sympathizers. Please see the current GA flag(a confederate flag)…
Regarding, calling any black person, who says racially impolite things, a racist, and comparing that bitter or even hateful non-violent verbal statement to a system of white supremacy that was not dismantled until the sixties and seventies, and will continue to haunt us for centuries? WOW…
Can black folks be righteously racially resentful, even bitter and God forbid say hateful things ? Yes, of course, just look at Esau’s feelings towards his brother Jacob, after Jacob stole his birthright.
Can that righteous anger, turn into hate, that mostly harms only black folks? Yes…
Do black folks have the power to enslave white people in the USA for centuries, or create an economic and political system to steal white peoples labor for centuries ? No…
Tom barksdale
November 4th, 2012
5:56 am
Of all the non-stories hyped beyond recognition into the media’s outrage-de-jour, this takes the cake. A respected civil rights leader, whose track record over nine decades proves himself to be one of the most decent people living, makes some deliberately hyperbolic remarks, and a major firestorm is unleashed. What another sad day for the media and the cause of rational discourse in America.
Sure,it would be better if Lowery had not said it–only because he should have been sensitive to how his words could be misinterpreted, distorted, and used against him. But the substance of his remarks reflect some underlying reverse-racism? Give me a break, for crying out loud. Let’s hope this story is quickly relegated to the dustbin of over-hyped drivel.
mike
November 4th, 2012
6:10 am
I see Mr Lowery has upset all the white folks. Good. When you folks have lived the experiences and the struggles this man has lived then you can make a comment on what he believes. Whether a joke or not, what he said is true. I suppose if there had never been people like Mr Lowery and those other friends of his from the 50s and 60s, things would just be fine. Mr Lowery is not the problem. Try looking in the mirror for the real problem with this country. I dont know who is going to hell but there will be a final accounting of how people lived there lives. And so far there have been a lot of folks who have lived in this country who have treated their animals better than their fellow humans. Look in your own house before throwing stones at Mr. Lowery’s house. And you can start with the current cast of morons the good white folks of Ga recently elected to the state legislature.
Jai
November 4th, 2012
6:13 am
Rev. Joseph Lowery is a man of wisdom. Whether you like him or not, he tells it the way he sees it. He is right in saying that a lot of bitterness has come out of this campaign. When people who have been in power for centuries fear losing power, they become desperate. Desperate people do desperate things (i.e. voter suppression).
Thank you Rev. Lowery for speaking what is truth. You will always be relevant and loved.
Vince
November 4th, 2012
6:59 am
a racist joke is a racist joke is a racist joke is a………
bella
November 4th, 2012
7:09 am
this is a racist remark,can you imagine the uproar had a white person made this statement about blacks.disgraceful,I AM A BLACK WOMAN
old joke
November 4th, 2012
7:20 am
Doc tells his patient, “I have two pieces of bad news…the first one is you have cancer.” Patient says, “Lordy Doc, what’s the other one”. Doc says, “You also have Alzheimer’s”. Patient says, “Well, at least I don’t have cancer!”
William
November 4th, 2012
7:25 am
It is obviously clear that the bigot, Lowrey feels it is OK to hate people if their skin is lighter than yours. ..and you shall know them by the fruit they bear….
Edmund Ruffin
November 4th, 2012
7:26 am
Lowry should shut up and sit down. Neither he nor John Lewis will ever belong to MENSA.
Kerry
November 4th, 2012
7:31 am
It’s clear that the bigot, Lowery believes that it’s OK to hate people . as long as their skin is lighter than yours. WOW, this is a revelation ??… we live in Atlanta, we live this racism every day.
3d
November 4th, 2012
7:35 am
How can anyone take this 90 year old man seriously?
Just another reason our country’s in the pitiful shape it’s in.
AtlJack
November 4th, 2012
7:42 am
The conservatives (other than Jason) who are so outraged at Lowry and at “black racism” would be using the “n” word at every opportunity and saying how lazy and “shiftless” n-iggers are if they lived in the 50’s and 60’s.
Mary Elizabeth
November 4th, 2012
7:43 am
Oh No, Not the New Jim Crow, 4:53 am
“The root of ALL evil, is the love of money.”
================================================
Thank you for sharing your eloquent and truthful words. Your knowledge of history is on target and it is so good that you shared this history with others who read this blog. Yes, the root of all evil seems to be money, no doubt because the focus is all on oneself, and not on the welfare of others.
The story of your 14 year old “beautiful,” intelligent son very much affected me and the story seemed not to have closure from how I read your words. Was your son hurt, or worse? I do hope not. Even if he were not harmed, he might have been. Our nation must move toward non-violence and love, instead of violence and hate.
Thank you again, for sharing such profound insights and in depth history.
Jim
November 4th, 2012
7:44 am
What’s the big deal? Don’t most religions believe that the followers of other religions are going to hell?
brk
November 4th, 2012
7:49 am
why is there so much hate in this world, I am white but if you are not white, or “so called Christians” you are nothing, God loves us all and he knows what is in our hearts if it is hate it will come out and sometimes jokes do not go over well I am a christian but detest organized religion
OldGrunt
November 4th, 2012
7:52 am
Rev Lowery is no longer a voice of reason. Someone has started pulling his chain and putting him up to stunts, and and using his voice to promote their own agendas. First, he tried to turn the Charter School issue into a racial issue. (Rev Lowery, how has APS, Clayton and DeKalb County School Systems turned out for our kids?) It appears to be ok for Blacks to be racial bigots.
Rev Lowery, and other Black leaders, should be having a Come to Jesus meeting with Obama, and demanding answers as to why the Black community has an unemployment rate of over 14%. If Lowery and others are advocates for the Black community, then WHAT ARE THEY DOING FOR THEM? Fear that Rev Lowery has allowed himself to become a ‘field boss’ for the plantation owner — the democratic party!
d
November 4th, 2012
7:58 am
Lowery and his ilk has long since lost political and communal relevance…have to agree with an earlier post hes earned the right to say what he will…none of it is relevant pertinent or aof value…hesan older man that needs to be told its time to retire…I say this as a black man..Joes had his time…however…have to agree with him…white people have been a curse on this earth for over 2000 yrs…no other nation has committed as much genocide, no other people have erased entire cultures of humanity…if there is a hell…many of them will be there..have to agree on that…to his second point…I agree, this democracy is flawed and corrupt to the core…but even still..too many have fought and died for the right for us not to participate…finally, for those that say Afro ppl vote for President Obama because of race…Im sure that was a factor in the other 43 Presidents that were “voted” in..nobody complains when its the good ol boys club do they? in short get over it
kidding yourself
November 4th, 2012
8:01 am
If the blacks think they are discriminated against now by whites, wait about 20 years when the hispanics rule this country. They will have no sympathy whatsoever. Kiss affirmative action goodbye, they made it on their own and never did anything to you. Do the Egyptians still owe the Jews?
Race Baiter
November 4th, 2012
8:06 am
They are all the same race biters. If the freeloading demos ran a black goose for office they would vote for it, just like they are doing for Obamacommie.
Rhett Butler
November 4th, 2012
8:25 am
Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.
OedipusTax
November 4th, 2012
8:31 am
Galloway’s apologies for Lowery are one more version of liberals keeping black people on the liberal plantation, which has led to so much death, illegitimacy, rape, and murder. Why is it that Lowery cannot see how much hatred has filled his soul and those of his believers? Maybe God is driving him mad for a purpose? Liberals have brought us the murder and chaos of the inner city, for which they have no one else to blame but themselves. Yet, it seems their empty souls blind them to their own self-created Hell. May God have mercy on their souls, and in the meantime, and please forgive liberal apologist Galloway.
me
November 4th, 2012
8:41 am
He is a racist, as are most other African American politicians. In the end, it will probably backfire on them.
me
November 4th, 2012
8:43 am
PS: Wasn’t it him that in the Atlanta child murders in the eighties said that white folks were the ones doing it to use the kids for cancer research? Real nice roll models.
Wilbur
November 4th, 2012
8:47 am
Our racial past has much in it to be ashamed of. There is no question about the awfulness of what black people endured often with much dignity.
If we are to ever experience a new day though voices like Mr Lowry’s must change. And if they don’t he will have to be marked as a race hater and a racist. Continuing excuses for him and diverting the discussion from the point of his repeated remarks aside, what Mr. Lowry said is unacceptable, as Is defending or excusing it.
Lowry’s remarks are hurtful to both black and white Americans.
Trixie
November 4th, 2012
8:48 am
This a subject that will go and on just as the Middle East, problems. It will never go away or be even until those who continue to carry the subject around like a bag of rocks.Itt gets so heavy you don’t move.
Carl
November 4th, 2012
8:56 am
lowery is nothing but an old time race baiter. Every comment he uttered he believes, nothing has changed about this man. He has nothing left but to continue the hatred between races, that is why he said what he said. He wants to ensure he scares blacks to vote for obama like that will be an issue. Blacks vote for obama due to race and nothing else. obama and lowery are two peas from the same pod…
Carpetbagger
November 4th, 2012
9:09 am
The “Reverends”-
Andrew Young- “Smart @ss White Boyz” (when mayor of the Black Mecca the ATL)
Jesse Jackson- “Hymie Town” (when running for president commenting on NYC)
Joseph Lowery- “All whites are going to hell.)
And this is from the black leadership who are clergy men… men of god? No wonder the black community is dysfunctional.
Tina Trent
November 4th, 2012
9:17 am
Bull, and you know it. So you’re lying, and the sanctimonious sneer that it’s lying on behalf of racial justice doesn’t charm.
Let’s talk about Lowery’s actions. Twice this year, he sent a delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Council to demand intervention in white (read Republican) America’s suppression of black votes. That is a vicious false accusation against his fellow citizens, not a punchline. That would also be the UN HRC, a rogue’s gallery variously populated by human rights paragons such as Syria, China and Iran. Lowery’s delegation presented a false vision of America where “darkeys” (in the words of one of his equally charming delegates, hamming it up for approving dictators) live in terror of trying to exercise the right to vote as evil Republicans hunt them down.
Perhaps you find this amusing. You have a distaff sense of humor. I suggest that if the AJC wishes to actually weigh Lowery’s words, it might consider examining Lowery’s record, starting with the federal grant money he and his organizations have pocketed for the last several decades to incontinently recite groundless accusations against generations of innocent Americans. His latest bag man, at least, is not us but George Soros, who underwrote the SCLS’s most recent little international foray into hate speech against us. Dottering treason is still treason, if empowered by the media, political officials, and other powerful people.
Racial attacks on Americans who do not support Obama have grown into a perverse obsession here and elsewhere. Lowery deserves severe public censure for it. You and other commentators need to be held accountable for your casual yet increasingly unhinged accusations. Snickering aside, we need to have a real conversation about the toxic effects of accusations of racism on political discourse. You and the editors who allow you to carry on with no professional consequences for relentless false allegations of racism are culpable for nothing less that a campaign to suppress political speech. Who do you think you are, Joseph Lowery?
Badda-bum.
George W. Bush
November 4th, 2012
9:21 am
I know Joe & he is himself a joke!
Edward
November 4th, 2012
9:39 am
White conservatives are still whining over this? Would someone shove something in their mouth to shut them up, please? Worse than diaper-rashed infants, perpetually whining and bitching about some perceived slight. Grow up, already.
Truth is
November 4th, 2012
9:50 am
@waw…my friends know not to say bs like that around me.
Easy
November 4th, 2012
9:54 am
The old double standard again….had any white individual made the same “joke”, the good reverend would have been first in line labeling he/she a racist, and he would be correct! So, it appears he has self identified himself as exactly what he rails against……a racist!
flagger
November 4th, 2012
9:55 am
I think all Black Folk are going to Hell…. just kidding… just kidding…ha ha ha just kidding!!!!!
really i am only kidding.. STUPID ISN’T IT!!!!!
OldGrunt
November 4th, 2012
10:22 am
One thing for sure, between Obama’s four years of economic destruction of America, and his acolytes like Eric Holder, Maxine Waters, Franklin Raines, Van Jones, and SADLY, former role models like Rev Joseph Lowery, the term ‘RACISM’ has been reduced to a slur spoken by the racist. Opportunities provided, then squandered!
The US is not ready for a marxist form of government!
cc
November 4th, 2012
10:32 am
“The US is not ready for a marxist form of government!”
. . . and never will be!
brk
November 4th, 2012
10:40 am
Edward how right you are they whined even louder when the country elected a black president I can just hear them now, oh tsk tsk they actually voted for a n-gger oh Hamilton how could they LOL
Ayn Rand was right
November 4th, 2012
10:45 am
I’m a transplant to the city of Forsyth. This young reporter did her job…reported. Mr. Lowery no matter his age, race or religion was within his rights to say what he said, but was stupid to do so. Old timey jokes are often colored with the nuances of their time. In this case we are well beyond joking about groups of people based on their color, sex or religious beliefs. It is shameful that someone with Mr. Lowery’s experiences would think this funny. It is much more shameful that a church would sanction such racist statements to be made in their House of God.
BTW – Mr. Lowery did ask before he told the joke if there were any press members in attendance…if you have to ask that type of question before you “tell your joke”, you may want to re-think what is about to come out of your mouth.
honested
November 4th, 2012
10:49 am
Joke or not, if Rev. Lowery can turn out 80% of the Black vote, then the remaining joke will be on the sad conserrrrrrrrrrrrvatives on Wednesday morning.
Maybe not a Blue GA, but at least a Purple one.
UTELLUM
November 4th, 2012
11:03 am
i laugh, because most of you have no idea of the struggle & culture of black people…I grew up & experienced the civil rights era and was the recipient of blatant racism but i do not hate white people, but also know that it is still very much alive in our society today….Think what you will about Rev. Lowery, but he speaks the truth and the fact that he can joke about it shows how at 91yrs he can still command and audience. Please know that he is very well respected among all races!….Also people, please know this, THERE IS NO RACE CARD!!!! Racism is alive & well in America!
lugnut
November 4th, 2012
11:04 am
Lowery is just doing his part to keep some value in the racial franchise that he and Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and all kind of wanne-be’s must maintian in order having to avoid getting a real job. And why not? I am sure this “stir the racist” pot thing pays very well. My hats off to them for keeping it going well past any rational expiraton date. They ain’t dumb, and know that the “dumb” will pay in real dollars to avoid blame for their plight in exchange for blamimg it all on racism. It is a fine tuned machine.
Ayn Rand was right
November 4th, 2012
11:08 am
Let’s think about this in the space of time…children (and many young adults today) only know of blatant race restriction via school books and movies. This reality is no more real to them than tahe cartoons they watch after school. By keeping hatred (and hate speech, no matter how “funny”) alive, you perpetuate the hate. By letting go and forgiving the past, you allow for the future to be a better place. Think about it, it’s not about you, it’s about your children and theirs. Think before you speak…if you wouldn’t want you grandmother, spouse or hometown newspaper to hear and repeat what you are planning to say, then don’t say it.
UTELLUM
November 4th, 2012
11:13 am
And, I am proud to say that i voted both times for President Obama because He is Black and a Democrat. and like what he is working toward for all people…How many of you are voting for Gov. Romney because He is White?…I bet most of you wont admit it.
USMC
November 4th, 2012
11:14 am
“Joe Lowery and the history of a joke that failed”–Jim Galloway
Jim Galloway is an absolute JOKE! Joseph Lowery is a racist and Jim Galloway doesn’t have the intestinal fortitude to call Lowery out on it.
Jim Galloway’s Leftwing Liberal Dishonesty is a obvious!
You ought to be ashamed, Jim!
UTELLUM
November 4th, 2012
11:16 am
@ Ayn Rand was right, Are you serious? Children these days are smarter than you think…Be for real, already…
Debbie
November 4th, 2012
11:18 am
I guess it is a good thing that he is not the one who makes the decision about where someone will spend eternity. He should pick up his bible again and see who does.
UTELLUM
November 4th, 2012
11:20 am
@ USMC, yes, i agree that Rev. Lowery is what you say and has every right to be, but you know what? it takes one to know one…do you have a right to be one? just asking….
Dianna S
November 4th, 2012
11:21 am
I believe if a white person had said that about black people there would be “hell” to pay. I have heard so many times that black people can’t be racist nd that is crap. Racism sees no color. Any race can be racist!
Ayn Rand was right
November 4th, 2012
11:28 am
Utellum – You must have a point of reference to make decisions. If the point of reference that these children get from their community is hateful bias, how are they to become any better?
Also – I am voting for Mitt Romney because he is an intelligent, successful, moral person, who I believe will lead this country out of the giant mess we are in today. I am not voting for Obama because he is a talker not a doer. I really do not care what color my President is. As one aspiring to be President they should all be red, white and blue on the inside.
Randy
November 4th, 2012
11:29 am
To Utellem, If there were a black man running that wasn’t a socialist, and hadn’t been bankrupting our country, I’d be proud to vote for him…… Already did once…ehmmm Herman Cane
Randy
November 4th, 2012
11:29 am
To Utellem, If there were a black man running that wasn’t a socialist, and hadn’t been bankrupting our country, I’d be proud to vote for him…… Already did once…ehmmm Herman Cane
Russ
November 4th, 2012
1:57 pm
I love a good joke, and, if I, a White person, had been in the audience, I would have laughed. That he delivered the “joke” to a Black audience in a get out the vote effort is relevant, in my opinion. It was pandering, at the very least.
Mary Elizabeth
November 4th, 2012
2:21 pm
So many comments are so full of cynicism. Why not try to refrain from judging others, and instead try to foster compassion and understanding? That simple change of heart would do so much to change our world for the better.
MiltonMan
November 4th, 2012
3:31 pm
Lowery is a racist – plain and simple. It is funny to see that the “rev” is such an idiot to think his position gives him the right to be the final judge.
MiltonMan
November 4th, 2012
3:33 pm
Would be interested to see a white “rev” tell an all-white crowd that all blacks were going to hell.
fire eater
November 4th, 2012
4:17 pm
Joseph Lowery was the main speaker at a rally/memorial for five leaders of the Communist Worker’s Party slain during a riot they started in Greensboro, NC in 1979. The shootings were later determined to be SELF-DEFENSE.
septuagenarian
November 4th, 2012
5:23 pm
Me thinks Mary Elizabeth loves to hear herself talk and deliver her idealogy whether solicited or not
10Dawgs
November 4th, 2012
6:09 pm
Joseph Lowery who has preached against bigotry all his life, is one of the biggest bigots around. What a hypocrite! There’s no room for a racist in 2012. Why would anyone pay attention to this old fool?
10Dawgs
November 4th, 2012
6:18 pm
@ UTELLUM, I’m sorry that for you, there is a boogieman under every rock. For your own sanity, try to move on with your life.
Hillbilly D
November 4th, 2012
6:39 pm
Eight days ago, in the small town of Forsyth, Lowery and former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, 80, made a stop at a local church. It was part of an effort to boost votes for President Barack Obama in Georgia.
Politics has no place in the church, no matter which side is doing it.
cc
November 4th, 2012
6:53 pm
Politics is the staple of many, many churches with predominantly or exclusively black congregants.
The Shoe Is Own The Other Foot
November 4th, 2012
6:57 pm
@10Dawgs
November 4th, 2012
6:09 pm
Joseph Lowery who has preached against bigotry all his life, is one of the biggest bigots around. What a hypocrite! There’s no room for a racist in 2012. Why would anyone pay attention to this old fool?
====================================================
WHERE WAS YOUR OUTRAGE WHEN JOHN SUNUNU, DONALD TRUMP
RUSH LIMBAUGH, ANN COULTER ALL USED RACISTS COMMENTS
ABOUT OBAMA?
YOU HYPOCRITES NEED TO GO BACK UNDER THAT ROCK YOU
CAME FROM.
PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN GLASS HOUSE
BE CARE OF THE ROCKS YOU THROW.
The Shoe Is Own The Other Foot
November 4th, 2012
6:58 pm
CORRECTION;
PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN GLASS HOUSES NEED TO
BE CAREFUL OF THE ROCKS YOU THROW.
KARMA WILL GET U IN THE END.
The Shoe Is Own The Other Foot
November 4th, 2012
7:22 pm
@cc
November 4th, 2012
6:53 pm
Politics is the staple of many, many churches with predominantly or exclusively black congregants.
==========================================
Politics is the tool of many, many churches with predominantly or exclusively white
congregants to STYMIE the rights of black people.
The Shoe Is Own The Other Foot
November 4th, 2012
7:31 pm
@MiltonMan
November 4th, 2012
3:33 pm
Would be interested to see a white “rev” tell an all-white crowd that all blacks were going to hell.
===================================================
White ministers HAVE SAID AND DONE the same. Were you outraged?
‘Racist,’ Whites-Only Christian Pastors’ Conference Sparks Outrage
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 11:10am by Billy Hallowell
The Blaze
There’s nothing “Christian” about discrimination and residents of Winfield, Alabama, who are outraged over a pastors’ conference that is designed for white people only, agree. Critics are charging that the event is racist in nature, as organizers and conference attendees vocally defend their choice to exclude anyone with a different skin tone.
double
November 4th, 2012
8:29 pm
This reminds me of Billy Graham deciding if it’s ok to vote for a mormon cult.We got mighty people walking around,We just don’t recognize them.More cults too.
cc
November 4th, 2012
8:40 pm
The Shoe Is Own The Other Foot:
Bernie, I’ve noted that your posts have become more and more irate over the past few months. Although your posts have always been nonsensical, they are becoming even more difficult to understand. I know that you now realize that Hussein will NOT be returned to office, and I sense that this is causing you some pain. Obama will unfortunately do to black people exactly what Jimmy Carter did for Georgia. Jimmy Carter insured that no Georgian will soon be elected president after his miserable performance.
By the way, I noted that Hussein and the boy wonder Biden are STILL using the phrase, “bin Louden is dead and GM is alive.” You might suggest to them that they should be saying, “Al Qaeda is alive and four Americans are dead, thanks to my administration.”
Tuesday will come and go, Bernie, but your hurts will heal and, in time, you will grow to love and respect President Romney . . .
Lyndon Baines Johnson
November 4th, 2012
9:40 pm
Does this mean that Barry H. is half wrong?
The Shoe Is Own The Other Foot
November 4th, 2012
10:08 pm
@cc
November 4th, 2012
8:40 pm
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“Tuesday will come and go, Bernie, but your hurts will heal and, in time, you will grow to love and respect President Romney . . .”
Who is Bernie?
I might be Bernice.
“Tuesday will come and go, Bernie, but your hurts will heal and, in time, you will grow to love and respect President Romney . . .”
How can you love a man who believes in religious underwear?
DO YOU WEAR RELIGIOUS UNDERWEAR?
Boxers or briefs?
Weirdos……………………………………………….
heeheeheeheeheeheehee
double
November 4th, 2012
11:03 pm
Poor cc writing to imaginary people about imaginary happenings.Please Mr.Custer.
The Shoe Is Own The Other Foot
November 5th, 2012
12:01 am
@cc
November 4th, 2012
8:40 pm
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“Tuesday will come and go, Bernie, but your hurts will heal and, in time, you will grow to love and respect President Romney . . .”
============================================
All the white horses and all the WHITE men.
couldn’t put lying MITT ROMNEY together again.
LIE TO US once, shame on MITT;
LIE TO US twice, shame on US..
heeheeheeheeheeheeheehee
BehindEnemyLines
November 5th, 2012
3:19 am
re: “Lowery still wields serious clout in Georgia” … one of the saddest indictments of our state I’ve ever read.
seabeau
November 5th, 2012
5:04 am
Lowery is a joke who has long since failed!
catlady
November 5th, 2012
6:54 am
I think many white folk are tired of being blamed, even jokingly, as the problem for black folks. H3ll, we don’t even want to own up to blame for white folks in poverty. While some of poverty is self-inflicted, we go out of our way to avoid looking at our policies that “encourage” poverty.
Ms.Smeneza
November 5th, 2012
7:30 am
All blacks are going to hell. I’ve been saying it for years so don’t be upset.
Mary Elizabeth
November 5th, 2012
8:58 am
catlady, 6:54 pm
“While some of poverty is self-inflicted, we go out of our way to avoid looking at our policies that “encourage” poverty,”
==================================================
It takes compassion, instead of judgement to create those policies that will curtain poverty. The American people have compassion for the less fortunate. Now, the American people simply need to vote into office those lawmakers who also have compassion, and those who are not simply looking to enlarge their own pocketbooks through their government service. In other words, we need true public servants in public office – those who understand how to be “servant leaders” to those they serve, like Washington, Jefferson, and Adams understood. None of these men made money off of their public service. In fact, they lost money by service in the government which they believed in for the benefit of all Americans.
Committed to freedom
November 5th, 2012
8:59 am
If you are black, you allowed to be as big a racist as you want and nobody is allowed to say anything. That is the take home message of those who survived the civil rights movement.
Folks like Malcolm X and MLK figured out that the movement had simply become a mechanism for a new kind of enslavement of blacks, this time orchestrated by those who sought to profit from the chronic victimization of blacks by the “movement.” They figured out that personal choices by blacks, and not the actions of whites, were more responsible for their economic and personal situations, but that didn’t fit well with those in the movement who saw a great financial future in “victimization”. Malcolm X and MLK wouldn’t keep their mouths shut and toe the line, so they were assassinated.
Lowry is a symbol, like Jessie Jackson and others, of everything that those two great men worked against. Sadly, they continue to get the media attention and the accolades while the message of the martyrs gets twisted to serve the financial and political motives of the rest.
Jokes about going to hell don’t always end well » Brambleman
November 5th, 2012
9:23 am
[...] you have to explain a joke–especially when you have to call a press conference to do so. Here’s the story, as told by Jim Galloway of the The Atlanta Journal-Constituion has [...]