Ryan Streeter
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As a native of Indianapolis, I found this story especially ugly: Andre Carson, who represents the district that covers most of Indianapolis, said last week in Miami that the Tea Party would “would love to see you and me ... hanging on a tree.” By "you and me," he was referring to African Americans.
What’s worse, when asked about the comments, Carson’s office stood by them, saying the Tea Party “jeopardizes our most vulnerable and leaves them without the ability to improve their economic standing.”
Carson’s spokesman then goes on to say:
The Tea Party is protecting its millionaire and oil company friends while gutting critical services that they know protect the livelihood of African-Americans, as well as Latinos and other disadvantaged minorities.
If they weren’t in the defense of such atrocious comments, these comments would be hilarious. Anyone who has spent time around Tea Partiers or attended a Tea Party rally can attest to just how Main Street they are. Not far outside Carson’s own district, there are a number of Tea Party groups sprinkled through the rural landscape and suburban hinterlands whose addresses don't include nearly the concentration of millionaires that Carson has in his district. Not to mention there’s not a whole lot of oil out there in Indiana either.
Insane.
It will be interesting to watch how the Democratic leadership in the House responds to this…
Here’s a video that has surfaced of Carson’s comments.
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