Black Trump supporters aren’t ‘tokens’

Racial double standards have no place in Congress, yet liberal politicians regularly seek to paint Republicans as racist, while engaging in blatant racism themselves. The latest example is Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s shameless remark about Housing and Urban Development official Lynne Patton during Michael Cohen’s hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, was asked to explain herself by her fellow Democrat, committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, after she called Patton (a black woman) a “token” and said it was “racist” for Republican Rep. Mark Meadows to invite her to the hearing. Wow!

Then, the left doubled down with more racist attacks. In his column, “Bad move parading black woman to defend Trump,” Bennie Ivory argues that Patton’s presence was “an obscenely insulting and surreal scene reminiscent of … when slaves were put on display on the auction block for inspection.” Ivory complains that Patton “stood silently,” but neglects to mention that committee rules prevented Patton from speaking.

“News flash, Meadows: You don’t get to define what racism is and isn’t,” Ivory writes. And that’s exactly the point.

To the left’s race baiters, “racism” is an indefinable yet ever-present specter lurking at the edge of any political debate — an irrefutable, unfalsifiable charge that can be trotted out at the most convenient moment to distract from an otherwise weak argument.

If a conservative denies the charge, they respond that “you don’t get to define what racism is.” Bring along a nonwhite person who can refute the charge, and they’ll say that’s “racism in itself.” Argue that you are a black woman with a voice of your own, as Patton did, and they’ll call you a “token.”

Racism is alive and well in America, as we saw from Tlaib’s baseless attack on a black conservative woman. We can do better in America. We must hold the Democrats to the same standards they apply to Republicans.

Carol Swain

Host of “Be the People” podcast Nashville