Republican recall frontrunner Larry Elder called ‘Black face of white supremacy’

California recall candidate Larry Elder may be Black, but as far as some progressives are concerned, he’s also the “face of white supremacy.”

A Friday column in the Los Angeles Times ran the headline, “Larry Elder is the Black face of white supremacy. You’ve been warned,” calling the conservative Los Angeles radio host’s candidacy “an insult to Blackness.”

Mr. Elder, known as the “Sage from South Central” in a reference to the minority working-class Los Angeles neighborhood where he grew up, was quick to respond to the headline.

“You’ve got to be real scared and desperate to play the race card against the brother from South Central,” tweeted Mr. Elder.

Mr. Elder leads the field of Republican recall candidates seeking to replace Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in the Sept. 14 special election.

Columnist Erika D. Smith wrote that Black people “aren’t a monolith,” but that “Elder opposes every single public policy idea that’s supported by Black people to help Black people.”

“Anytime you put a Black face on white supremacy, which is what Larry Elder is, there are people who will utilize that as an opportunity to deny white supremacy,” said Black Lives Matter Los Angeles co-founder Melina Abdullah in the article.

Mr. Elder supports policies such as expanding school choice, cutting regulations to spur home-building, and cracking down on crime, arguing that police are not engaged in systemic racism but that such accusations have caused officers to pull back.

When crime goes up, “the people that are disproportionately affected by that are the very Black and Brown people that people on the left claim that they care about,” he told the Los Angeles Times editorial board.

In today’s LA Times.
You’ve got to be real scared and desperate to play the race card against the brother from South Central. pic.twitter.com/pqZIujKxPD

— Larry Elder (@larryelder) August 20, 2021