Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Head of Missouri NAACP Calls Obama Clown Mask A Hate Crime
CBS ^ | 8/15/2013

Posted on 08/16/2013 6:44:34 AM PDT by Altura Ct.

The President of the Missouri Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) says a rodeo clown act depicting President Barack Obama at the Missouri State Fair Saturday night was a hate crime.

“I think that a hate crime occurred,” Ratliff told KXNT Radio in Las Vegas Thursday. ”I think a hate crime occurs when you use a person’s race to depict who they are and to make degrading comments, gestures, et cetera, against them.”

Ratliff says it’s an outrage that taxpayer dollars were used to disrespect the president.

“We are taxpayers in the state of Missouri,” Ratliff said, “and when taxpayer money is utilized to discredit and be disrespectful to our president, whether he be black, white, Hispanic, Latina… it is an outrage.”

Ratliff says that is why her organization is asking the Department of Justice to conduct an investigation. She has also asked the Secret Service to investigate the incident in Sedalia.

“With all of the hateful and mean things that are happening and happened in Missouri here at the rodeo, we believe that the Justice Department should look into the discriminatory practices against our sitting African-American president,” Ratliff added. “In this country, discrimination is still illegal.”

The Missouri State Fair on Monday barred the rodeo clown, Tuffy Gessling, from performing at the fair. Mark Ficken, the announcer at the event, resigned this week from his position atop the Missouri Cowboy Rodeo Association, a position he held for only two days.

The incident Saturday night drew national attention and almost unanimous bipartisan condemnation from Missouri’s politicians and congressional delegation. While few have gone as far as Ratliff in denouncing the show, many in the state’s African-American community have viewed it through a racial lens.

U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, said he was “amazed that in 2013 such hatred, intolerance and disrespect towards the President of the United States could take place at the Missouri State Fair.”

“Our fair is supposed to showcase the best of Missouri, instead, it showed an ugly face of intolerance and ignorance to the world,” he added.

Missouri Rep. Steve Webb, D-Florissant, said he was “incensed” and referred to the incident’s racial undertones in a statement Monday.

“Sometimes apologies just won’t do. While I do not believe this represents all of rural Missouri, the racial undertones of a taunted rodeo clown dressed as our nation’s first black president is what the nation woke up to this morning,” Webb said.

State Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, called the event “racist and degrading.” Rep. Gail McCann Beatty, D-Kansas City, added, “I am angered and disgusted by the blatant racism that was displayed at the Missouri State Fair.”

Meanwhile, a “Support Tuffy Gessling” Facebook page created Monday had over 65,000 “likes” by Wednesday night.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-102 next last
To: Altura Ct.

“We” need to get back to praising the Lord again. Because if not, “we” will feel the need to praise ridiculous idols — and to be praised as ridiculous idols. Oh man, you can see into what spiritually dark situation this crowd is getting and it is to both laugh and cry.


41 posted on 08/16/2013 7:07:37 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (The Lion of Judah will roar again if you give him a big hug and a cheer and mean it. See my page.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GeronL

That was my first inclination too. If you think about it though, they passed the level of simple ridiculous years ago.

Those folks are caught up in a psychotic death spiral. It’s collectivist mind-melding destruction of their ability to think in terms that are rational.

It’s almost as if they did acid together, and destroyed one third of their brains in the process.


42 posted on 08/16/2013 7:08:19 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (This post coming to you today, from behind the Camelskin Curtain. Not the Iron or Bamboo Curtain...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Dead Corpse
Please, don't hold back.

Why don't you tell us what you really think!

;-)

43 posted on 08/16/2013 7:08:24 AM PDT by WayneS (Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: WayneS

Weird, I thought I was being subtle and restrained.

:-)


44 posted on 08/16/2013 7:08:56 AM PDT by Dead Corpse (I will not comply.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: Altura Ct.

If that was a crime, what do they call the actions foisted on the rest of us by the Obama Administration? Calling the clown’s actions criminal does a serious injustice to, and belittles the real crimes perpetuated on blacks by real racists such as the KKK and others of similar ilk. Doesn’t anybody have a sense of humor any more? Sheesh!


45 posted on 08/16/2013 7:09:11 AM PDT by Real Cynic No More (Border Fence Obamacare!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fresh Wind
Would masks that depict Obama as a white person be banned? He is, after all, half white.


46 posted on 08/16/2013 7:09:16 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 (You don't notice it's a police state until the police come for you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Altura Ct.
How can we convince these frighteningly ignorant people that this kind of massive hatred is what ultimately results in ditches filled with machine gunned bodies?

A bullet is the most egalitarian object in the universe. And it's not that big a step. Ask anyone in Cairo.

What's the spread on blood in the streets before the World Series?

47 posted on 08/16/2013 7:09:32 AM PDT by jonascord (Hurrah for the Bonny Blue Flag that bears a Single Star!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Altura Ct.

The NAACP is a hate crime!


48 posted on 08/16/2013 7:09:35 AM PDT by Redleg Duke ("Madison, Wisconsin is 30 square miles surrounded by reality.", L. S. Dryfus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DoughtyOne

I think you are on to something there. A virulent group psychosis that kills entire cultures.


49 posted on 08/16/2013 7:09:43 AM PDT by Dead Corpse (I will not comply.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: Altura Ct.
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
50 posted on 08/16/2013 7:09:56 AM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Altura Ct.

Doubling down on idiocy.


51 posted on 08/16/2013 7:10:06 AM PDT by IronJack (=)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: gov_bean_ counter

And rodeo is a blood sport. One of the last allowed.


52 posted on 08/16/2013 7:10:07 AM PDT by Mercat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: Altura Ct.

Let me take this moment to call the head of the Missouri NAACP a clown!


53 posted on 08/16/2013 7:10:25 AM PDT by jimfree (In November 2016 my 13 y/o granddaughter will have more quality exec experience than Barack Obama)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Altura Ct.
Ratliff says it’s an outrage that taxpayer dollars were used to disrespect the president.

Has "disrespect" always been a verb or are we just moving into the early stages of idiocracy?

54 posted on 08/16/2013 7:10:53 AM PDT by Washi
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dead Corpse
Couldn't have said it better myself.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

55 posted on 08/16/2013 7:11:05 AM PDT by wku man (Amnesty? No Way, Jose (No Se Puede!) by 10 Pound Test http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsTUQ8yOI2c)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Altura Ct.

Then why was the Bush rodeo clown mask escapade called a “hate crime?”


56 posted on 08/16/2013 7:11:10 AM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SMARTY
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
57 posted on 08/16/2013 7:11:33 AM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: Washi
Early stages?
58 posted on 08/16/2013 7:12:35 AM PDT by WayneS (Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: Salvation

Then why wasn’t


59 posted on 08/16/2013 7:12:44 AM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: Brooklyn Attitude
"Isnt the term “colored people” considered a slur?"

You're right. To be sociologically correct, it should be "Negroes".

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

60 posted on 08/16/2013 7:12:48 AM PDT by wku man (Amnesty? No Way, Jose (No Se Puede!) by 10 Pound Test http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsTUQ8yOI2c)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-102 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson