In politics, words matter. Policies matter even more.
With that said, can we please have a little perspective on that not-so-minor matter of the name of Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s hunting camp?
Unless you were on your annual vacation to the planet Pluto for the past week, you no doubt know that there’s a rock at Perry’s leased hunting camp. Said rock has a certain word painted on it, one that is known to be racially offensive.
Those of you who are easily offended – and in 2011 America that would be just about everybody, but those on the left seem to get offended more quickly than anybody else – please stop reading now, because I’m going to give the name.
Niggerhead.
Perry’s supporters say that the word was painted over soon after his father leased the camp in the early 1980s, although news reports quote sources that say the offensive word was still visible on the rock in recent years.
Perry released a dignified, reasonable explanation about the controversy, which shows he’s a far better man than I am.
Were I in his position, I might have said that the name should remain in case a rapper wanted to lease the place in the future. With a name like “Niggerhead,” most of today’s rappers would feel right at home on the ranch.
There’s a bit of hypocrisy in all this criticism of Perry’s alleged “racial insensitivity” vis-à-vis how black rappers routinely get away with using the word.
Has anyone accused the record companies that crank out CDs featuring rappers on n-word rants of “racial insensitivity”?
Some might have (to his credit, the Rev. Al Sharpton is one of them, and he’s also taken black rappers to task for using the word). But just as many haven’t.
And you can bet those who’ve been lax in holding record companies accountable for letting rappers run amok with the word will give Perry little or no credit for his record of appointing blacks to government positions in Texas.
Here’s a question a reporter from The Dallas Examiner put to Perry in October of last year, taken from the Web site www.blackvoicenews.com:
“Gov. Perry, you have appointed more African Americans to significant boards and commissions in Texas than probably any other governor. You appointed Wallace Jefferson, chief justice of the Supreme Court; Bill Jones, board of regents of Texas A&M system; Anthony Sadberry, commissioner of the Texas Lottery System; and Albert Hawkins, commissioner of the Texas Health and Human Services Commissions. Additionally, you have appointed an African American to almost every college and university board in Texas.”
Compare Perry’s record and policies vis-à-vis black Texans to Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, particularly when he was mayor of Baltimore.
O’Malley implemented a crime-fighting strategy that was a.) Draconian and b.) Unconstitutional and c.) Had a disparate and disproportional impact on young black men in the city.
Cops in O’Malley’s Baltimore who made what are called “Terry stops” (named after a 1968 Supreme Court decision that allows police to stop, question and search those who might be engaged in suspicious activity) didn’t bother to document them, as is required by law.
Things got so bad in the town that some called “Stalag O’Malley” that even beat cops had to go to their union, the Fraternal Order of Police, and ask its leaders to get O’Malley to ratchet down the jack booting just a tad.
Most black Democrats, especially those constantly whining about the number of black men in jail or prison, offered little or no protest.
When it comes to words vs. policies, I’ll take 10 Rick Perrys over one Martin O’Malley any day.
Gregory Kane is an Examiner columnist.
