Ken Barnes a Black Republican activist from Sacramento quit the party in disgust because of the constant racist depictions of President Obama. Barnes has been a Republican activist for the last 13 years, and he held a number of party posts over those years including serving on the California Republican Party Executive Committee.
This comes from a blistering OpEd Barnes wrote in the Sacramento Bee:
Racist Cartoon of Obama forces me to leave GOP
Last year alone, I donated more than 400 hours of my time to the Republican Party and made financial contributions to a number of Republican candidates.
As of late, however, when I look at myself in the mirror there is one question which perplexes me: Can I, in good conscience, remain affiliated with an organization whose message purveyors of racism and bigotry find attractive?
The latest incident in a string of tawdry, race-based actions was the promotion of a racist cartoon by elected Orange County Republican Party Central Committee member Marilyn Davenport. The cartoon depicted President Barack Obama and his parents as chimpanzees, while simultaneously implying that the president is not a legitimate American, but rather an African-born interloper.
Over the past two years, we have seen Republicans use long-held racist imagery in portrayals of Obama. The president has been depicted as a communist witch doctor, a man inclined to plant watermelons on the White House lawn, and we watched in disbelief as his face was placed on an “Obama Buck Food Stamp” along with stereotyped pictures of fried chicken, barbecue ribs, Kool-Aid and the obligatory watermelon.
What does any of this have to do with public policy or conservative values? Here is a man who excelled academically at the finest schools in the world, has a wonderful in-tact family, worked hard and rose to become president of the United States. Yet in spite of his accomplishments, the president is still labeled an illegitimate, socialist, African witch doctor and has his face superimposed on a chimpanzee.
If this can be done to a black man who is the leader of the free world, how long will it be before fellow Republicans insert my face on a chimpanzee?
How many other minority Republicans are struggling to stomach all racist attacks the party's members frequently aim at Blacks, Latinos, and Muslims? Lets hope that they get a chance to read Ken Barnes OpEd and reassess their allegiance to this party riddled with such repugnant racism.