The Santorum slur

By Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq.
TriceEdneyWire.com Columnist

Who does Rick Santorum think he is kidding! He said, “I don’t want to make Black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money.” Now he has tried to switch to something he wants us to believe. The problem is he wants us to believe what makes no sense.

Black is not that difficult to say or to understand. Keep in mind that Santorum was campaigning against several candidates with whom he was in a dead heat according to the polls. He was in Iowa where Black people are almost non-existent. He was speaking to a group of almost all white people who seemed to have been there still looking for the most conservative candidate of the group running.

He was, no doubt, trying to get their vote by letting them know he is one of “them”, and just in case they had racist tendencies, he in no way wants them to think he is going to be supportive of Black people who might need a social safety net under his presidency. Never mind the facts of who gets more food stamps, welfare or other social services. It’s not Black people—but Black people are easy to blame.

Those were desperate times for Santorum to get those last minute Iowa votes, and he knew he could leave no stone unturned when it comes to his intention regarding poor Black people. I believe he made the statement so that the undecided who had no love for Black people had to get the message of what his intentions were toward us if he became President. There was nothing subtle about Santorum’s message as to who should be blamed for whatever ails people who want to blame somebody other than themselves.

When Santorum made his statement, he knew that the reality is that 84 percent of food stamp recipients in Iowa are white and that nationally 70 percent of recipients of food stamps are white. Despite this knowledge, Santorum knew it was worth more points for his campaign to give the impression that it’s Black people who use up all the resources and cause the budget problems—even though that is far from true.

Santorum has no record of supporting Black people or women or any disadvantaged group, so why does he expect us to believe he meant anything other than disrespect for Black people? Once Santorum secured the Iowa vote, he compounded the problem by trying to lead us to believe he just slurred his words. No matter how hard you try to come up with another word to fit the situation or give him the benefit of the doubt, you cannot substitute a word for Black in his statement and have it mean anything else other than pandering to those who might have racist tendencies.

Santorum has unfortunately served in the United States Senate. I say unfortunately because I cannot think of a single thing he did to help the poor and the underserved—whether Black or any other color while he was in the Senate.

His campaign has just recently gotten seriously underway because no one gave him a thought before Iowa. Yet, already he has managed to say some other pretty outrageous things. Even if we were to give him the benefit of the doubt on the “Black” statement, remember he has also denigrated others by criminalizing sex between many consenting adults. A woman would have no right to choose. He would force her to give birth even if she is impregnated through incest or rape! He would criminalize use of contraception! Need I say more!

This article was originally published in the January 16, 2012 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper