"I Get It From My Momma" Natural Progression of Louisiana Buckwheat
For Immediate Release--
Scranton, PA: Hazel Boykin, a 75-year-old civil rights activist who helped desegregate Louisiana restaurants and schools, helped Democratic Louisiana State Representative Carla Blanchard Dartez get voters to the polls earlier this month. At the end of a private telephone conversation thanking Boykin for her efforts, Representative Dartez said, "Talk to you later, Buckwheat."
Known for beginning her passionate speeches with the phrase “I am proud to be an American true, but I am even more proud to be a Louisianan first”, Tanya Callaway Crews today is heartbroken.
“I am saddened today with the lack of media attention or outrage in the community with the recent events that have happened in Louisiana. I continue to be amazed with the “surprise” in the community over the Jena 6. It was a lack of involvement in the early stages that allowed the madness to continue. So here we are on the eve of another election in Louisiana, and the embers are warming for another firestorm, and no one is sounding the alarm.”
Project 21 chairman Mychal Massie is criticizing both the lawmaker for saying it and the media for once again appearing to take a pass on reporting about a liberal politician's racial foible. "Representative Dartez's comments were offensive and pejorative," said Massie. "There is no way in this day and age that 'Buckwheat' can be construed as anything but an insult, and there is no reason a politician should get a pass based on their record or party affiliation. She should resign her seat."Crews notes that the youth of today are passionate and have few outlets to release their feelings. Young people are fed up the ideas that they hear at home from their parents, which continue to be unaddressed. They are watching the adults and how we interact with each other and how passive we have become and they feel they need to act on our behalf. “We need to show our youth how the system can work to correct injustices and racist behavior, before the firestorm wells up once again in our schools, otherwise kids will be bringing Buckwheat wigs to school.” Crews explains.
Tanya Callaway Crews served as Prosecutor for Louisiana’s Fourth Judicial District’s Teen Court from 1984 to 1988, and served on the Governor’s Commission on Juvenile Justice. She is a founding Board Member of The Louisiana Network of Washington, DC, and Northeast Louisiana Mobile Christian School as well as the Founder of First Touch Communications, Inc. and CEO of Crews, Callaway & Associates. A true renaissance woman, she often speaks for political, non- profit and business groups. For scheduling please call (866)767-9880 or visit www.firsttouchinc.com.
-End-
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Louisiana Official with the Racial Slurs
Fury after La. lawmaker calls black supporter 'Buckwheat'
A Democrat who serves in the Louisiana legislature called a black supporter "Buckwheat" just days before the runoff election that will determine whether or not she returns to Baton Rouge.
Rep. Carla Blanchard Dartez said "Talk to you later, Buckwheat" at the end of a telephone conversation with a black woman who helped drive voters to the polls on Election Day. (Buckwheat was a character in The Little Rascals who has come to symbolize demeaning racial stereotypes.)
"I've never had no one talk to me that way and I considered it a racial slur," Hazel Boykin tells the Associated Press. "I know the meaning of it, it's just like the N-word."
Boykin is a respected member of the community who played an active role in the civil-rights movement of the 1960s. Her son, Jerome Boykin, runs the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
He has withdrawn his endorsement of Dartez and says he wants local residents to vote against her in the Nov. 17 runoff election.
"At this point, the NAACP is not concerned about the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. If a Republican is elected because of her racist remarks, that's her responsibility," he tells the wire service.
At one point, The Courier says Dartez threatened to resign if Jerome Boykin publicized the incident on his weekly radio program. He talked about the slur, but the paper says Dartez "backed off talk of resigning."
"I made an insensitive comment when speaking with Hazel Boykin, and I have apologized to the Boykin family and publicly for my choice of words," Dartez says in a statement to local media organizations. "I have a strong record of fighting for issues important to the African American community; in fact, I have a 93% voting record with the Black Caucus."
Dartez has been in office since 1999. The local community is divided over her latest problem, according to WWL-TV. What do you think?
(Photo from Louisiana House of Representatives.)
A Democrat who serves in the Louisiana legislature called a black supporter "Buckwheat" just days before the runoff election that will determine whether or not she returns to Baton Rouge.
Rep. Carla Blanchard Dartez said "Talk to you later, Buckwheat" at the end of a telephone conversation with a black woman who helped drive voters to the polls on Election Day. (Buckwheat was a character in The Little Rascals who has come to symbolize demeaning racial stereotypes.)
"I've never had no one talk to me that way and I considered it a racial slur," Hazel Boykin tells the Associated Press. "I know the meaning of it, it's just like the N-word."
Boykin is a respected member of the community who played an active role in the civil-rights movement of the 1960s. Her son, Jerome Boykin, runs the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
He has withdrawn his endorsement of Dartez and says he wants local residents to vote against her in the Nov. 17 runoff election.
"At this point, the NAACP is not concerned about the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. If a Republican is elected because of her racist remarks, that's her responsibility," he tells the wire service.
At one point, The Courier says Dartez threatened to resign if Jerome Boykin publicized the incident on his weekly radio program. He talked about the slur, but the paper says Dartez "backed off talk of resigning."
"I made an insensitive comment when speaking with Hazel Boykin, and I have apologized to the Boykin family and publicly for my choice of words," Dartez says in a statement to local media organizations. "I have a strong record of fighting for issues important to the African American community; in fact, I have a 93% voting record with the Black Caucus."
Dartez has been in office since 1999. The local community is divided over her latest problem, according to WWL-TV. What do you think?
(Photo from Louisiana House of Representatives.)
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