After Lamar County’s Democratic Party Chairman Gary O’Connor’s use of a racial slur toward Senator Tim Scott – a Black man – late Thursday afternoon, Lamar County Conservative President Robert Black said he was appalled and believes O’Connor should submit his resignation as the county’s Democratic Party Chairman.
Before the post was removed, O’Connor had commentated about Washington Post’s article “What the back-and-forth over America being a ‘racist country’ is actually about,’” in which O’Connor wrote on social media, “I had hoped that Scott might show some common sense, but it seems clear that he is little more than on oreo with no real principles.”
Shortly after learning of O’Connor’s racially-tensioned comment, Black asked “why is it so many feel the need to interject the difference of skin color into their opinions?”
“There was no reason to use anything descriptive of Senator Scott’s appearance in O’Connor’s statement,” Black said. “Not that the slur was not bad enough, he went on to make matters worse with his justification. O’Connor then states that he ‘thinks Tim Scott comes from a class of Black people who have forgotten their roots.’ Why is anyone trying to villainize someone based on their opinion, beliefs, or choices? It is not the place for any political party to try and assimilate people into one single set of beliefs.”
Black continued to say, “For whatever reason, a Black man is just not allowed to willingly be a Republican. By doing so, they are labeled not black enough or deceived individuals.”
Black said he looks to Senator Tim Scott as “an admirable Black man that has not forgotten his Black ‘roots’ in America.”
“A man that does not use his ‘roots’ as a barricade to success but instead is determined to show nothing is impossible for any man or woman no matter the color of their skin, their wealth, or the neighborhood they grew up in,” he said.
Black said for the nation to continue moving forward, “we must stop looking to the past to explain who we are today.”
“We cannot look at a Black person and limit them based on what they were or where they came from, nor can we look at a white person and limit them as racist, seeking white supremacy,” he said.
People around the globe, Black said, are continuously bullied, enslaved and even beaten for more reasons other than skin color.
“The Democrat party has been king in creating and applying labels to people for decades,” Black said. “Those labels have created a negative, back-biting, socially bitter society. My desire is that we can see our country move away from slurs and labels and get to the source of the issues in this country. We should work together to equally achieve the rights to pursue life, liberty, and happiness in unity.”
Black concluded by saying he believes O’Connor should submit his resignation as Lamar County’s Democratic Party Chairman.
“If he cannot address someone with differing opinions without demeaning them as he did here, he should not be in a position of influence in our diverse community.”
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