September 28th, 2004
Incumbent Clark County commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald has been under fire from local Democrats lately:
Boggs McDonald, a former Democrat who has held local offices as a Republican since 1999, was quoted in Thursday’s Las Vegas Sun as saying she regrets having been a Democrat.
“From my perspective, there is one last plantation in America, and it’s called the Democratic Party,” Boggs McDonald said.
In an interview Friday, the commissioner said she was simply trying to explain her beliefs that Democrats take black voters for granted and offer them little in the way of policies that improve their lives. She said that blacks have the same statistical percentage of the nation’s wealth today as they did after the Civil War.
“One party believes they’re owned, and that’s the Democratic Party,” Boggs McDonald said. “My party doesn’t do enough, but at least it doesn’t presume that African-Americans are along for the ride. I have always earned my votes from African-Americans.”
On Friday, about 20 black Democrats, including fellow black commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates, called upon her to apologize and called the plantation comment “divisive.” [...]
Atkinson Gates, who chairs the Democratic National Committee’s Black Caucus, said she hadn’t wanted to get involved in the election between Boggs McDonald and Democrat David Goldwater, but said Boggs McDonald made “the worst comment I have ever heard from anyone in the black community.”
Apologize for merely expressing an honest opinion? Give me a break!
Commissioner Atkinson Gates and the local black left are blowing the whole thing way out of proportion for political miles. Many blacks, including myself, have been saying that the Democrats take black voters for granted as if they “own” them — time and time again. It isn’t new; it’s just that it’s an election year, and Boggs McDonald is favored to win. So, why not round up a bunch of black Democrats and attempt to smear her as a race traitor?
Fortunately, many in Boggs McDonald’s commission district can see through the grandstanding and decide for themselves.
By the way, Mrs. Atkinson Gates, I can think of plenty of asinine comments from members of the black community that are far more worse than what you accuse Mrs. Boggs McDonald of.
Frankly, I’m glad Boggs McDonald is standing her ground and not caving in to petty attacks. She has no need or reason to apologize for merely expressing her opinion.
And the R-J got it wrong. It was Atkinson Gates who played the race card by trying — and failing — to demonize Boggs McDonald as a sellout.
Not Off The Hook, Though: All race-baiting aside, Boggs McDonald appears to have more serious problems at hand concerning ethics…
Filed under Commentary, Local News | Comments (2)
I’m on the left, as you know, but I have to wonder just what in the hell Gates and the Democrats have to worry about. As for people taking people for granted, the Dems and the Repubs are both guilty of that.
More Black “Us” vs. “Them” Silliness
I wasn’t going to go here. Really. But comments to blog entries by dcthornton and booker rising got me going. Yet again. Black Republicans don’t really want to go down this path. Black GOP’ers claim that Blacks are emotionally tied…