Los Angeles Liberals: Screw The Homeless…
December 29, 2005by Bob ParksI thought I’d share this commentary by Ted Hayes, a black conservative homeless advocate in Los Angeles. This is in partial response to those who take offense to my assertion that liberals and their policies are inherently racist by design….
Prejudice
By Ted Hayes
December 28, 2005American blacks who are affiliated with the Republican Party are vigorously vilified by Democrats, especially black Democrats. Uncle Tom, sell-out, Oreo — the list of slurs is long.
But it is not only insults. I am the founder and director of a unique, progressive homeless facility in downtown Los Angeles, known as the Dome Village. Yet the 35 men, women and children and their pets who call the Dome Village home are being “evicted” from privately owned property after 12-and-a-half years — apparently on account of my political beliefs and activities. You see, though I am a leading homeless activist, I am also a conservative Republican and a strong supporter of President Bush.
Here’s how the situation played out. Recently, I was invited to address a local Republican Women’s Club; my landlord read an article in the local paper reporting on the event. Soon after, I received a notice raising the Dome Village rent from $2,500 a month to $18,330. Shocked, I inquired as to the seriousness of the change and the property owner blurted out that the cause of our “eviction” was “because you are Republican.” He said that as a Democrat, he was tired of helping me and the Dome Village. In other words, let the homeless be damned.
And people think the Democrats are the party of compassion and tolerance. Private property should be protected, of course, and I have no intention of causing any trouble for this property owner as we part ways. Whatever he does with his valuable land — it is only a few blocks from the Staples Center — is no concern of mine, and I will not go to court.
Still, I cannot help but be saddened by the whole business. When I founded the Dome Village 12 years ago, we had an understanding that he could ask for his property back at any time for any reason, and I would say “absolutely” without hesitation. Still, his reason was prejudice against Republicans.
We see this across the country. Michael Steele, the lieutenant governor of Maryland and a Republican candidate for the Senate, has been crudely denigrated on racial grounds. A prominent leftist Web site, for instance, depicted him as “Sambo,” among other aspersions. When Condoleezza Rice was nominated as Secretary of State, she faced similar treatment: editorial cartoons depicting her as a racial caricature, personalities calling her “Aunt Jemima” on liberal talk radio, and so forth. Clarence Thomas, Ward Connerly, Colin Powell, Thomas Sowell and other black conservatives regularly face similar smears.
These conservatives are attacked not because of the validity or judicious consideration of their views but because those views are supposedly heterodox for American blacks. Yet it is my opinion that many black people in the U.S. are politically and philosophically conservative — and many are in fact actually closeted Republicans, fearful of persecution by friends, business associates, society clubs, school mates and even churches.
It is time for American blacks to have a conversation about the phenomenon of Democrats persecuting black Republicans. Why is this happening? What is it that the Democrats don’t want black folks to understand about Republicans? What is it that the Democrats don’t want black folks to know about Democrats? And how is it that we have come to this point — after having endured so much — where we have ourselves curtailed the freedom of political expression through the threat of retaliatory consequences?
- Mr. Hayes is a homeless activist in Los Angeles
For those of liberals out there who are offended that I continue to use the very words against you that are gleefully tossed by yours at conservatives, please explain how you claim to support the homeless, yet are willing to kick them to the curb because a black man who chooses to feed, clothe, and house them is a Republican.
So much for tolerance and inclusion yet again.
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Posted in Bob Parks at 8:13 am by Bob Parks
You tell them Ted! He is spot on and very courageous. The questions he raises for the black community to discuss are right on the money. Good for him. It just goes to show the truly innovative and intelligent are conservatives or at least those unwilling to be brainwashed and held down by the party line!
I have often believed that the true unleashing of the black community from bondage would be the renewal of our country and there is no question that the black community has allowed themselves to be held in bondage by the Democratic party for a long, long time. The relationship screams, "Yes Maser'" and this is the dependent relationship they must strip themselves of as a community. It is not only the death of their children, but the death of their souls.
There is no full equality for them until they release themselves from this weight of evil restraint.
Prayers and thoughts going out to Ted and his extended family, he is a great person that has done a lot for the city of Los Angeles.