In a commentary on NPR’s “Morning Edition” on Thursday, a black Hollywood screenwriter trashed the Illinois GOP’s drafting of Alan Keyes to face Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate race: “the implication is, ‘Hey, we’re gonna lose anyway — why not fake like we care about black people while we’re really just tossin’ one to the lions?’”
John Ridley, the creative force behind the 2002 black-action-star comedy “Undercover Brother,” denounced the courting of “four-time loser” Keyes: “This gesture by the Illinois GOP has all the sincerity of a 58-cent belated birthday card. On the one hand, it’s as if they’re saying the only way to fight a black guy is with another dark face. On the other hand, the implication is, ‘Hey, we’re gonna lose anyway — why not fake like we care about black people while we’re really just tossin’ one to the lions?’”
After making the obvious point that Keyes can’t claim as a qualification that he has ever lived in Illinois, Ridley dragged in Clarence Thomas for attack: “Keyes being the most qualified choice is about as laughable as when Clarence Thomas just happened to be the next qualified Supreme Court nominee to replace retiring justice Thurgood Marshall. No quota-fillin’ there by the Republicans. Just some Vegas-style luck.”
Ridley concluded: “Maybe it’s because the Republicans don’t practice affirmative action that they’re so clumsy at it when they try. But maybe the lack of affirmative action on the Democratic side is the reason Barack Obama is so successful. Obama got where he is because he’s competent, dedicated, because he’s proven his base of support goes beyond A core constituency, and certainly not, as with Keyes, despite claims otherwise, because he’s available and black.” To hear the commentary in full, go here.
Ridley says he enjoys his NPR commentator duties because “There’s something actually very gratifying about offending people, intellectually. Not just on the base sense, but offending their intelligence and forcing them to go back over their ideas, their opinions, sit down write them out and express their selves.” For this quote, see here.