The Rev. Raphael G. Warnock of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta criticized Newt Gingrich in his Sunday service honoring the late civil rights legend. Warnock, who was recently profiled in this Huffington Post Black Voices article, blasted the Republican presidential contender for race-baiting.
"He is playing an old game that's part of the Southern strategy. I think he's relying on old logic of scapegoating and race-baiting," Warnock said.
The criticism refers to the Republican's comments about President Obama being the "food stamp president" and how he would address the NAACP on the increase of food stamp usage in the country. Here's the quote from Gingrich:
More people were on food stamps today because of Obama's policies than ever in history … if you run and ask people if you rather your children had food stamps or pay checks, you wouldn't end up with a majority saying they'd rather have a pay check. And so I'm prepared if the NAACP invites me, I'll go to their convention and talk about why the African American community should demand pay checks and not be satisfied with food stamps.
The comments from Warnock came almost a day after Gingrich spoke to hundreds of African Americans in a church in South Carolina. That appearance was one that both attracted and disgusted many parishioners at the Jones Memorial AME Zion Church.
Warnock is also a 2011 honoree of The Root 100.
We can expect to hear more from black pastors across the country in their Sunday sermons as the 2012 election race heats up.
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