The same Democrats expressing outrage over “systemic racism” and a return to Jim Crow were mum when one of their own demeaned Black Republican Sen. Tim Scott with a racial slur, and former Rep. Allen West isn’t about to let them forget it.
The former Florida congressman, now chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, called out President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris after the Lamar County Democratic Party rejected the resignation of chair Gary O’Connor for labeling Mr. Scott an “oreo.”
“You would think that Kamala Harris or Joe Biden or someone within the Democrat Party would have said, ‘Look this is unacceptable,’ that they would have come out with a statement, but no,” Mr. West said Thursday on Fox’s “The Faulkner Focus.”
“The point is they’re going to use this racial divisiveness, which is the new Marxism for them, as a means to force their ideological agenda,” he said.
Texas Democratic Party chair Gilberto Hinojosa said Wednesday the “oreo” comment was “a mistake for which Chair O’Connor has profusely apologized and taken responsibility for,” and accusing Mr. West of “massive hypocrisy” for his support of former President Trump.
Mr. West pointed to the Democratic-stoked furor over election reforms such as voter-identification requirements for absentee ballots in Georgia.
“If you’re trying to have strong election laws in my home state of Georgia, or what we’re trying to do here in Texas, they’re going to demonize and denigrate you as Jim Crow,” said Mr. West. “Yet they’re able to go out there and use these very, very denigrating racial slurs from a person in their leadership here in the state of Texas, and nothing happens to them.”
The Lamar County Democrats rejected Mr. O’Connor’s resignation at a Tuesday night meeting, saying that the party chair’s “life of service, collaboration, and activism for racial justice is well known throughout this community. His recent remark is incompatible with his core values.”
Mr. O’Connor said he was “deeply and sincerely sorry” for his now-deleted April 28 Facebook post on Mr. Scott, who delivered the GOP rebuttal to President Biden’s address before a joint session of Congress.
“I had hoped Scott might show some common sense, but it seems clear he is little more than an oreo with no real principles,” Mr. O’Connor said in the post.
So Gary O’Connor tenders a resignation, but the #LamarCountyDemocrats and @texasdemocrats refuse to accept it? I have a bit to say about that … pic.twitter.com/H1IUX6O884
— Allen West (@AllenWest) May 5, 2021
The “oreo” smear refers to a Black person who is seen as “Black on the outside, White on the inside,” according to Urban Dictionary, a crowdsourced website that defines slang terms.
Four House Republicans, led by Rep. Pat Fallon of Texas, introduced Wednesday a resolution condemning “racism in any form” as well as Mr. O’Connor’s remark and the Texas Democratic Party for its lack of response.
Mr. West announced Tuesday he would send a package of Oreo cookies to the Texas Democratic Party, saying that “until this guy resigns, I’m going to stand up and speak out against the party of systemic racism.”
“They want to call people such as myself that don’t believe in them, that don’t want to be on the 21st [century] economic plantation ‘Oreos,’ I’m going to continue to make sure that we send Oreos to the Texas Democrat Party, because I’m sick and tired of the duplicitous hypocrisy of the true party of racism.”
He added: “I hope you Democrats enjoy your Oreos.”
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.