Unreal. Per Huffington Post, Barbara Boxer was accused of being "racial" today at a hearing on climate change! The witness, Harry Alford, was from the National Black Chamber of Commerce, which seems to be a bunch of pro-business global warming deniers who oppose fixing our climate change problem. He claims green jobs aren't being created in California, that they don't exist.
Later, Boxer cites an NAACP report that supports climate change legislation, and suddenly Alford goes off calling her "racial" and "condescending".
Quotes and video after the fold....
"All that's condescending, and I don't like it. It's racial. I take offense to it. As an African-American and a veteran of this country, I take offense to that," he said. "You're quoting some other black man -- why don't you quote some other Asian or some other... You're getting racial here."
"You're speaking on behalf of the black community?" Alford asked. "Why are you doing the colored people association's study with the black Chamber of Commerce?"
....
"We've been looking at energy policy since 1996. And we are referring to the experts, regardless of their color. And for someone to tell me, an African-American, college-education veteran of the United States Army, that I must contend with some other "black group" and put aside everything else in here -- This has NOTHING to do with the NAACP, and really has nothing to do with the National Black Chamber of Commerce. We're talking about energy. And that -- that road the chair went down, I think is God awful."
As an Asian-American, I gotta love his "quote some other Asian" line. :-)
Here's the video from the hearing. (h/t MinistryOfTruth)
Wow. Just wow. Here's what I think, why should we give one flying fuck about what the National Black Chamber of Commerce has to say about climate change? If they have a legitimate claim to make, then I see no problem in Boxer citing what the NAACP has to say in return, because he's claiming to speak for a segment of the black population.
BTW, ThinkProgress noted that the NBCC has gotten $275,000 $350,000 from ExxonMobil just since 2003. And Grist notes that the NBCC's membership is a secret.
Wondering who belongs to the NBCC? Well, so is everyone else. The group refuses to disclose the names of its members to "protect their privacy." The group is a 501(c)3 non-profit but it does not disclose its funders on its website.
Update: Brad Johnson found the key quote from Alford, which shows he's a hypocrite.
Later in the hearing, Alford argued, "Let me speak for the African-American community, because I am African American."
Sorry, Mr. Alford, you cannot claim to speak for the black community as a whole, and then get offended when another viewpoint from the black community is cited. And what if it had been Carol Moseley Braun sitting there asking that question? Would you have accused her of being "racial" too then?
Keith Olbermann should give Alford tomorrow's Worst Person honors for his unhinged rant.
Update II: Also be sure to read Isaiah Poole's post, that has a lot more on Alford's history fighting against progressive causes, even comparing EFCA to Southern segregationists.