Mike Huckabee, Roy Barnes & That Racist Flag

Enjoying Georgia? Thank a Democrat!

Back in early high school, I had a bumper sticker that said just that on my guitar case.

There used to be a time when such a statement wasn't laughable. Dems controlled the House. Dems controlled the Senate. And a Democrat had resided in the Governor's Mansion since Reconstruction. Bill Clinton even carried Georgia in 1992. However, the fate of Georgia was sealed with Dole's Georgia victory in 1996 and Governor Sonny Perdue's big win in 2002.

Back to me. My personal decision to identify as a Democrat had little to do with Bill Clinton and absolutely nothing to do with my fellow Baptist, President Jimmy Carter.

I understood WHY I was and had always been a Democrat because of this man - former Governor Roy Barnes of Georgia. My fascination as a young boy with the Civil Rights Movement and freedom-fighters like Dr. King, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, Fannie Lou Hamer, Medgar Evers, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth helped me understand the importance of fairness and equality. Roy Barnes helped me to see that fairness and equality was and is best embodied in the Democratic Party.

But back in 2001, Roy Barnes had the courage to remove the Confederate Emblem from its prominence on the state flag. Barnes understood that the racist Confederate Emblem was a symbol of hate. His decision to change the state flag was protested by thousands and ultimately cost him his job. For his courage, Gov. Barnes was selected by a bi-partisan committed named by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation to receive the Profile in Courage Award.

Roy Barnes is an American Hero.

Unfortunately, Mike Huckabee is not.

Here's what Huckabee said just yesterday in South Carolina:

"You don't like people from outside the state coming in and telling you what to do with your flag," Huckabee said at a Myrtle Beach campaign event. "In fact, if somebody came to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag, we'd tell them what to do with the pole, that's what we'd do."

Later, in Florence, he repeated the remarks. "I know what would happen if somebody comes to my state in Arkansas and tells us what to do, it doesn't matter what it is, tell us how to run our schools, tell us how to raise our kids, tell us what to do with our flag — you want to come tell us what to do with the flag, we'd tell them what to do with the pole."

Conservative pundit Andrew Sullivan dubbed Huckabee's comments - "repulsive pandering."

Unfortunately, pandering to racists is still cool in the Grand Old Party. I hope and actually don't think that yesterday's statements represent the real Mike Huckabee. In 1997, Huckabee spoke at the 40th anniversary ceremony commemorating the integration of Little Rock Central High. Here's a snippet from that speech:

Some have asked: how long are we going to deal with this Central crisis situation? Are we going to have to relive it every few years? And I know there were some who were frankly made to feel very uncomfortable about all of these activities because some felt that it would just resurrect feelings and anxieties.

Well, let me tell you how long we will deal with it -- until justice is the same for every human being whether he or she is black or white, we will deal with it. Until the same rules apply to get a bank loan for every person regardless of who he or she is, we will deal with it. As long as there are whites who turn around and see a black person coming and bring fear to their hearts, we will deal with it. And as long as there are blacks who look and see and have resentment toward a white person, we will deal with it. We will deal with it until the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King lives in all of our hearts, and that is that we will judge people by the character of their hearts and not by the color of their skin.

Huckabee should have either spoke out against the flag or at least kept his mouth shut. His pandering to flag-waving racists who try to pull the wool over our eyes with their Heritage Not Hate bullcrap is quite unbecoming of a man who professes to be a "Christian Leader" and hopes to be President of the entire United States of America.

When I was a little boy growing up on the campus of Brewton-Parker College in Mt. Vernon, Georgia - I used to believe that "Republicans" were racists and "Democrats" were not. Why? The few Democrats that I knew were educated professors and professionals who talked sophisticated and had a clean mouth. They didn't own a Confederate Flag. The "Republicans" that I knew were the folks who spoke ill of "blacks", used the N-word and had that Confederate emblem plastered on their truck or a hanging from a wall in their home. As someone who was in church each time the doors swung open - unfortunately most of the "Republicans" that I knew were my fellow church members.

Of course I was wrong. After all, I was only 9 or 10. A racist is a racist. And I know both Republicans and Democrats who are stone cold racists. Many do not have a racist bone in their body.

But Mike Huckabee doesn't help fix the perception that Republicans are racists - a perception that many little boys like myself clung tightly to. I know that I wasn't alone. My feelings and perceptions were not unique especially in south Georgia.

On Monday, many of us will officially celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Meanwhile we have a Presidential candidate who many consider to be a frontrunner gallivanting across the state of South Carolina pandering to racists. Sad. Just sad.