The lyrics “I see your true colors shining through” were made famous by Cyndi Lauper, but today, they apply to Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy. Bundy’s recent comments about whether the “Negro” fared better under slavery, has many people raising eyebrows today.
As first reported by the New York Times, Bundy said of black people, "They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton.
“And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy?,” he continued. “They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.”
First of all, in 2014, who walks around calling people “Negro”? You have to wonder if he had to stop himself from using the other “n” word. In today’s “post-racial” society, Bundy’s sentiments are shared by many people. Ironically, some conservatives, like Rand Paul, whom Bundy counted among his supporters, are trying to distance themselves from him (for now, you know, until the controversy dies down).
“His remarks on race are offensive and I wholeheartedly disagree with him,” Paul said in a statement.
For most of the day, Bundy has been the talk of social media, specifically Twitter. Needless to say, his racist views haven’t gone unchecked:
The sad thing about Bundy is that in this so-called “post-racial” society, there are those who share the same views as him:
Go ’merica!
Yesha Callahan is editor of The Grapevine and a staff writer at The Root. Follow her on Twitter.
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