What’s This?
ANTI-AFRICAN AMERICAN FLYER FOUND ON S.C. STATE REPRESENTATIVE’S DESK
FITSNews – April 3, 2008 – A controversial flyer implying that African-Americans are lazy and do not want to work was found prominently displayed on the desk of a South Carolina State Representative earlier this week, prompting outrage from the black community and calls for the white Republican official to step down.
Allegedly entitled “Why He’ll Lose The Black Vote,” the flyer shows a crowd of African-American men fleeing from a superimposed image of presidential candidate Barack Obama, who is quoted on the flyer as promising every African-American a job.
The obvious implication of the flyer, which was photographed yesterday by a FITSNews staffer in a highly-visible location on the desk of S.C. State Rep. Bill Sandifer, is that African-Americans are simply not interested in the jobs Obama is offering them.
“If this is an attempt to portray African-Americans as a group that is running away from a job, them shame on whoever’s involved in it,” said State Sen. Gerald Malloy.
State Sen. Darrell Jackson agreed, calling the image “insulting and offensive for anyone to be involved with – particularly a state lawmaker.”
“I’m very disappointed that someone in his position would have something like that prominently displayed in his office,” Jackson said. “We can’t always control what people send us, but we can control what we print out and have on display in our offices. I don’t know (Rep. Sandifer) personally, but I wish this was something he had not been a part of.”
Another African-American legislator who spoke with FITSNews on the condition of anonymity went even further, saying that Sandifer should resign.
Below is a high-resolution version of the original photograph, with the flyer visible in the lower left-hand corner of Sandifer’s desk facing the entrance to the Oconee County Republican’s State House office:
This photograph was taken with Sandifer’s permission yesterday by a FITSNews photographer who identified herself in advance as being associated with our news outlet.
Two Republican State Representatives who spoke with FITSNews on the condition of anonymity this afternoon say they received an e-mail with the controversial flyer included as an attachment last week. Neither would divulge who sent them the e-mail, but both said that they found it offensive and immediately deleted it from their inboxes.
Calls to Rep. Sandifer’s office, the S.C. NAACP and the Obama campaign were not immediately returned.
Sandifer, 64, was first elected to the State House in 1995. He is facing opposition in this year’s Republican Primary election.
UPDATED – Sources are now telling FITSNews that the e-mail including the Obama photograph was distributed to “dozens” of Republican lawmakers.
Comments
By Word up on April 3rd, 2008 at 2:53 pm
What an arrogant ass
By Snead on April 3rd, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Just another Cleminal, no surprise here.
By Tony Maloney on April 3rd, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Is this really a big deal? It wasn’t even a very funny picture. This one is much better:
http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/images/blbushfishingvacation.htm
By Joe Red on April 3rd, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Oh no! We’re headed into another Don Imus outrage! Let’s hear Obama tell this congress to resign and then compare him to his “typical white person” grandmother…
By q. on April 3rd, 2008 at 5:30 pm
this is the weakest piece of circumstantial evidence ever purported. unless there was a stack of these fliers underneath a “take one” placard, this “story” is libelous. the only two three problems i see are 1) the dumbass who wasted time making the stupid flier; and 2) the dumbass who wasted time taking a picture of the stupid flier made by the first dumbass; and 3) the dumbass who posted the aformentioned dumbassed-ness on the internet. (i suspect our three dumbasses might have only four cheeks.)
~quintus
By fitsnews on April 3rd, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Quintus,
Libelous? We’d like to wish whoever brings such an attempted imposition on our free speech all the luck in the world …
Incidentally, you seem to be quite quick to rush to the defense of members of Rod Shealy’s “reform caucus” lately.
Care to disclose anything?
-FITSNews
P.S. – Was that you walking a certain Senator’s dog into the House Office Building earlier today? :)
By DoveSong on April 3rd, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Racim of any level should never be tolerated. It is clear that many want to keep the status quo – no person of color as VP or President. The “white” power politicians want racsim to continue and will do and say anything to prevent Obama or tohers from gaining office. However, this is the USA and we all have a right to hold that post. It’s time for the bigots get out of office and out of power. Everyone in America should equal under the law. Bigotry is not funny – it’s a crime.
By Eric on April 3rd, 2008 at 6:02 pm
I am old enough to remember many whites in the south celebrating the death of MLK Jr. If you think this feeling of HATE toward our black brothers and sisters is somehow vanished you’re very wrong. As some of the posters here show, there is still a ton of racial prejudice in this country. There are still a lot of white citizens who will not vote for Obama simply because he is a black person. Of course, there is little honest in their side because very few of them will admit it. In that failure to admit it they are in fact admitting that they know they are wrong or are too much of a coward to come out with it.
Racists are everywhere. They are doctors (I’ve met them), lawyers (I’ve met them), teachers (I’ve met them), law enforcement (I’ve met them), etc (I’ve met them).
In a way being white helps me to see it. White people seem to speak more freely around other white people.
More to the point, I don’t believe flyers like this work at all. I think it only works to entertain those who would be against Obama in the first place. This flyer will change noones mind. In fact, I believe it HELPS Obama in the long run.
So let us thank the ignorant :)
By Chris Blask on April 3rd, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Race and Religion – these are the stated targets of the Clinton campaign according to Ickes.
Truth and Troops is Obama’s.
Sniper fire and stolen valor, eh Senator Clinton?
By morganthau on April 3rd, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Gee, if I got labeled based on every piece of pending mail on my table that I had only glanced at I’d be labeled a nut, a crackpot, a radical, a reactionary … on and on
By donny deutch on April 3rd, 2008 at 9:56 pm
wow, how lame….of course he should resign. Someone could have a) dropped it on his desk and taken the picture, b) photoshopped it in or c) it could have been dropped there with all the rest of his mail. I’m not a Sandifer fan, but this is really low.
By Tricia on April 3rd, 2008 at 10:07 pm
This is jumping to conclusion without factual basis. Perhaps, in order not to damage a good name they should wait before dumping this in the media as a racist condemnation.
I do not think it was intentional nor displayed. Now if it was sitting up like a birthday card or similar I might could see it. You should see what’s on my desk. I print lots of attachments or save them to my computer. I have many things that I just glance at and toss or put aside.
This is too much of a leap and someone’s good name should take precedence over an assumption.
By anon on April 3rd, 2008 at 10:25 pm
As a young “good ol’ boy” I get very frustrated with my elder counterparts. They still have a lot of latent racism. The only way it’s going away is when they all die off.
By VJmem on April 4th, 2008 at 7:57 am
I am Black and support Barack Obama, not because he’s Black, I just like his tone, attitude better than Hillary Clinton. This picture that’s floating around is quite indicative of what “people” do. I receive emails that imply certain things about other races, however, I do like some others do…….read them and delete them. I’m not sure how this guy got his but, you know, I don’t know why anyone is “shocked”. The real question is how does this person treat others? Let’s stop the guilt by association thing.
Don’t forget to help others register to vote!
By abc on April 4th, 2008 at 8:50 am
Will,
Seriously. It really does look like a stack of junk that is just part of the rest of the junk on his desk. How can you say this is “prominently displayed”? Always, always stirring the pot… :)
By RuthieM on April 4th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
This is ‘typical’ white Republican stuff, nothing new, nothing that ever will be new and anybody shocked over this is the stupid one. There are more closet racists like Sean Hannity of Fox’s Hannity & Colmes, who I’m sure when his show is off the air he and his kids and wife practice in their home putting their white hoods over their heads, having fun.
By Insider on April 4th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Folks, not you Will, let me tell you…Bill had to have printed that flier in order for it to be on his desk. While “literature” of this sorts finds its way to many of our email in boxes, such as this one did, it takes a real bigot to print it out. Not the first time and won’t be the last…unless voters continue to weed out these types.
By q. on April 4th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
FITS, unless you know something about the flyer that you’re not telling us, then, yes, your claim is libelous. but relax, i’m sure not going to file suit!
let me assure you that i have been nowhere in the vicinity in the statehouse within the last week, nor even within the last year. i think my last visit to the statehouse was sometime in 2006, but that amounted to nothing more than a quick stroll among the ubiquitous monuments. it has, indeed, been much too long since i visited thoses chambers. and besides, even if i had been walking an elephant outside the house office building, y’all wouldn’t know me from adam. you flatter me!
~quintus
ps: i wasn’t aware that rep. sandifer was a part of the “reform caucus,” but thanks for the heads-up.
By Tom J on April 5th, 2008 at 1:43 am
According to Project Vote Smart, Sandifer is also the Assistant Majority Leader of the Republican Caucus:
http://www.votesmart.org/bio.php?can_id=8945
By Crian on April 5th, 2008 at 9:05 am
This is very dissapointing to hear, and I hope that someone or at least the public puts pressure on Represantive Sandifer to resign. Such people don’t belong in public service.
By M.W. McGill on April 5th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
An Oconee County Republican a racist? say it ain’t so. Give me a “man bites dog” story, Will – show me an Oconee County Republican that ain’t racist. Now, that would be NEWSWORTHY!
By VaniNY on September 14th, 2008 at 11:14 am
I deplore this type of racism in public office. Sandler should be required to step down. He owes that to all of the African Americans who not only live in his state but died under the most ruthless and heinous forms of slavery that ever existed in America. In the Carolinas, African American slaves lived in rags, obliged by law to abide in illiteracy, subsisting on minimal food, forced to work under unimaginably miserable work conditions, while beauteous white women and dandified white men literally fed off their misery like vampires. This is a vulgar affront to those martyred people. This is also a horrible affront to democracy and plurality. Are we a great nation or NOT? Do we have to stand for this? Did white supremacists hire Sandler or was he hired by the people of the state of South Carolina to serve the interests of all the people?!?
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