On the eve of its GOP primary, South Carolina’s deep racial divide has been brought into focus by Republican rhetoric that many feel is intent on dividing the poor by race…
For others it is the hostile treatment of Barack Obama by the Republican party in Congress, which some critics see as beyond the usual cut and thrust of politics. There are also the campaigns to delegitimise his presidency by questioning whether he was born in the US, to paint him as a secret Muslim and the Tea Party movement’s talk of “taking our country back”.
“White folks around here talk about taking the country back when it hasn’t been anywhere,” said Edwards. “The fact is they don’t like a black man as president. They think he has taken something that belongs to them.”
Then there are the Republican candidates themselves who have done little to win over black voters in South Carolina with their observations on African Americans and poverty.
Rick Santorum has said he did not want to “make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money”. Newt Gingrich has said African Americans should “demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps” and suggested that children in poor families should be put to work as school janitors in order to learn work ethic. Read the full story here
