Grand Ol' Prejudice

Grand Ol' Prejudice

By Rachel Birdsell

I have always been in favor of free speech and would hate to see our country without it. But, sometimes people let things fly out of their mouths instead of keeping it in their heads. House of Representative hopeful, Republican Charles Fuqua of Batesville is one such example.

He recently published an e-book, “God’s Law: The Only Political Solution.” The title alone speaks volumes of his mindset. In his book he wrote, “I see no solution to the Muslim problem short of expelling all followers of the religion from the United States.” I can only guess that the problem Fuqua is writing about is terrorism because of the mistaken belief that so many people have that all Muslims are terrorists. These people haven’t figured out that being a Muslim isn’t a prerequisite for blowing up stuff.

But let’s pretend there really is a Muslim problem. Do constituents want a legislator who can only come up with one solution to a problem? I would prefer someone who is slightly more proficient at problem solving.

Muslims aren’t the only ones that Fuqua has in his crosshairs. He also wrote that he thinks that there should be a law that would allow the death penalty for rebellious children. He states that parents would take their little rebel offspring before a court and let the justice system decide if they should be killed. He further explains that he doesn’t think parents would really resort to that, but just having the law in place might keep children from being rebellious.

I think Chuck could use some parenting classes. Children shouldn’t be parented with the use of fear and threats. Anyone who wants to hold the death penalty over children for rebelling has a power complex and is an egomaniacal jerk. Of course, that’s just my personal, very nonprofessional opinion.

Fuqua isn’t the lone Arkansas Republican spouting off incendiary remarks. Jon Hubbard is a state representative from Jonesboro and has published the book, “Letters to the Editor: Confessions of a Frustrated Conservative.” In it Hubbard claims that slavery was a blessing in disguise for the black race because without it they wouldn’t have been “rewarded with citizenship in the greatest nation ever established upon the face of the Earth.” Hubbard also states that integration is hurting white students, black students have “a lack of discipline and ambition” and black people aren’t contributing to society. I’m beginning to think that maybe Hubbard might be a wee bit of a racist butt nugget.

Another Arkansas Republican legislator, Loy Mauch, was lurking in the shadows watching the attention that Hubbard was receiving for being a bigot, so he decided to skip merrily into the fray and snatch some of that attention for himself. In a letter to the editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Mauch wrote “If slavery were so God-awful, why didn’t Jesus or Paul condemn it, why was it in the Constitution and why wasn’t there a war before 1861?” I understand that Mauch is trying to argue in favor of slavery, but he fails to realize that his remark could be taken the other way — that maybe Jesus and Paul didn’t speak out about it because they were racist, too. The only reason bigots get votes is because voters agree with them.

Unfortunately, there are enough racists in our state and across the country to vote these men and others like them into office. We have to come out in full force on Election Day and show the racists that their archaic and hate-filled views won’t be tolerated. We have the ability to shut them up, and for the good of our future, that’s exactly what we must do.

Rachel Birdsell is a freelance writer and artist. You can drop her a line at rabirdsell@gmail.com

Categories: Commentary