The first night of the Republican National Convention provided viewers with many inspirational moments. Perhaps the most memorable one came from Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Black Republican in the U.S. Senate, who provided the closing speech on Monday night.
The media couldn't help having a moment of honesty and had to praise Scott, from major networks to print media. Even Vox and Slate had to acknowledge a powerful speech when they heard one, the latter amusingly but predictably titling their commentary “Opposite Night at the RNC.”
Sure enough, however, those same major networks quickly turned to eviscerating the RNC for racism. Oh, and that of course included CNN, which RealClearPolitics also highlighted.
Examples elsewhere abound. On Tuesday morning, Tommy Craggs wrote up a pitiful excuse to lament Republicans as racist, even by Mother Jones’ standards.
“How Badly Did They Want to Say the N-Word? RNC, Day 1,” the headline read. A leftist commentator, specifically an “Enterprise Editor,” is ranting about how racist the Republican Party supposedly is? Wow, how original!
While Craggs spent most of his article ranting and raving about Mark and Patricia McCloskey of St. Louis, the most telling part of his article was his reference to Scott and fellow speaker former NFL star Herschel Walker. Craggs began his article:
Tonight was the “I’m not racist, and my Black friend says so” portion of the RNC, featuring speeches from Tim Scott and Herschel Walker, among others, and a lot of predictable talk about “opportunity zones” and the Democratic “plantation.” For the hard stuff, we turn to the undercard.
Why doesn’t Craggs just come out and call them "Uncle Tom" while he’s at it? Plenty of people were already doing so, enough to get #UncleTom trending on Twitter, with others tweeting about #UncleTim. Further, Craggs clearly didn’t actually listen to Scott or Walker’s speeches; otherwise even he would be able to appreciate those moving testimonies in favor of Trump, and from voices others might not expect.
Scott and Walker are much more than “Black friend[s]” of Trump, but accomplished men with their own stories to tell and arguments to make.
Further, what does Craggs mean by “the hard stuff?” Is he making a reference to how far the so-called racism goes? Likely. The point is, though, that Craggs is using Scott and Walker even more than Republicans supposedly so are. He’s using them to further his own accusatory agenda, rather than speaking to the content of their speeches.
Mother Jones and Twitter weren't the only ones to go after Monday night's black RNC speakers. While Craggs didn’t actually spell out “Uncle Tom,” Lance Strong for Hip Hop Wired told readers exactly what he thought of those black voices, right in the headline. “Trump Trots Out Sunken Place Sambos Sen. Tim Scott & Herschel Walker For RNC’s First Night,” Strong ranted.
It only got better! The first paragraph read:
The first night of the Republican National Convention is in the books and, as expected, a lot of hot air was expelled in favor of elevating President Donald Trump. As expected, some of Trump’s Coon Squad members rose from the Sunken Place with their best tap shoes on and did a little jig while praising the Swindler-In-Chief.
Strong went on to call out Scott and Walker, as well as Kim Klacik and Vernon Jones, the other Black speakers that night. In doing so, he wrote that these speakers “all ran the same rap that Trump is good for America, including working-class individuals and Black Americans, touting mythical claims of improvement under the president’s guidance.”
Strong tried to justify the trend of #UncleTom, denouncing those who dare to point out the offensiveness as “some MAGA stans” who have “whiny responses.”
In showing their true colors, it’s apparent that there are those out there who can’t handle strong Black voices who speak out in favor of their preferred candidate, for the sole disqualifying reason that that candidate is Republican.
It should be clear, to anyone with a modicum of objectively, who the real racists are.
