Representative Lynn Jenkins
Republican Party Looking for a “Great White Hope”
The latest blunder comes courtesy of US Rep. Lynn Jenkins, who represents Kansas’s 2nd District. According to a bio posted on her site, Jenkins, a Republican, grew up on a farm, where she “learned the values of hard work, keeping your word, and the importance of serving your community.” But Jenkins, like many of her fellow GOP members, is incensed about the new healthcare reform bill supported by the White House.
She’s also incensed that Democrats have taken control of the House and Senate. She’s praying for a challenger. Someone who can assume the mantle of the right. Someone who holds dear traditional conservative values. And someone, apparently, who is Caucasian. Today, the Associated Press reported that Jenkins told attendees of a Kansas rally that the Republican Party was in need of a “great white hope.”
Once the media got a hold of the story Jenkins quickly began to backpedal. Through a spokeswoman, Mary Geiger, Jenkins apologized for her word choice and said she did not intend to offend anyone. The White House has not yet weighed in. It’s possible, of course, that Jenkins didn’t understand that “great white hope” is an extremely loaded term.
It was first employed near the beginning of the 20th century, when boxing promoters cast about frantically for a white fighter who could challenge Jack Johnson. Johnson, a black man, was the target of a vicious racist campaign, and in 1912, he was twice arrested for transporting white women “across state lines for immoral purposes.”
Guss it would be unfair to inform Rep Jenkins…
“Once you go Black – you can’t go back!”
🙂
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