Most Republicans get testy when they are accused of racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. However, one cannot help but be struck by how often Republicans and their supporters make insensitive, if not blatantly bigoted comments. Indeed, in recent weeks there have been many. Following are a few examples:

In October, a White male Romney/Ryan supporter was photographed wearing a T-Shirt that said “PUT THE WHITE BACK IN THE WHITE HOUSE.”
According to an Associated Press story on page 5 of the October 8, 2012 issue of The Buffalo News, Republicans in Arkansas called slavery a “blessing in disguise” and called for the deportation of all Muslims. Rep. Jon Hubbard of Jonesboro, wrote in his 2009 book Letters to the Editor: Confessions of a Frustrated Conservative that slavery was not so bad, and that African- Americans were better off as slaves in the U.S. than they would have been living as free persons in Africa. House candidate Charlie Fuqua of Batesville wrote in his 2012 book, God’s Law that there is “no solution to the Muslim problem short of expelling all followers of the religion from the United States.” (Fuqua served in the Arkansas House from 1996-1998.)
John Sununu, former White House chief of staff under President George H.W. Bush, has called President Obama “lazy,” and “not that bright,” (as well as “un-American”}, playing to ugly racist stereotypes. He has stated that Colin Powell is only supporting Obama because the President is Black. In this way, Sununu is trying to appeal to White voters to support Mitt Romney. (That noble champion of racial reconciliation, Rush Limbaugh, made the same charge for the same reason during the 2008 presidential election.) One would have to be blind not to see this.
Reactionary pundit Ann Coulter has called Obama “retarded,” thereby offending and infuriating not only African Americans, but those living with genuine mental retardation.
Perhaps most revealing are these words from Lawrence Wilkerson (a White man), former aide to Colin Powell when he was Secretary of State:

“My [Republican] party, unfortunately, is the bastion of those people - not all of them - who are still basing their positions on race. Let me just be candid: My party is full of racists, and the real reason a considerable portion of my party wants President Obama out of the White House has nothing to do with his competence as commander-in-chief and president, and everything to do with the color of his skin, and that’s despicable.” (Quoted in The Challenger, Buffalo, New York, p. 4, October 31, 2012.)

None of this is at all surprising to African Americans. Just as Republicans deny that their party is filled with racists, they go ballistic when progressives speak of a war on women. However, let’s look at where Republicans and their supporters stand on the issue of women and control of their bodies:

Many Republicans want women to undergo invasive trans-vaginal ultrasounds before they are permitted to get abortions.
During the summer, anti-abortion Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin of Missouri claimed that women’s bodies can stop pregnancies in cases of “legitimate” rape.
Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock said, “…even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that…is something that God intended to happen.”

If we go back a little farther, we find still more cruelly insensitive and sexist gems:

On February 3, 2012, Republican Congressman Ron Paul of Texas said, “If it’s an honest rape, that individual should go immediately to the emergency room. I would give them a shot of estrogen.”
On December 21, 2011, anti-abortion Republican State Rep. Roger Rivard of Wisconsin said, “If you go down that road, some girls, they rape so easy.”

The Republican anti-abortion battle cry continues to be “life is sacred.” However, as progressives have pointed out for years, Republicans do not consider life to be so sacred outside the womb. As syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts of the Miami Herald has eloquently stated:

“If we truly hold life sacred, we do not balance budgets by denying funding to programs that feed hungry children. We do not look the other way when kids have no access to health care. We do not countenance easy gun availability that makes the playground a war zone.” (“Life is sacred, some of the time,” The Buffalo News, November 1, 2012, p. A9.)

Very few African Americans vote Republican, even when Black Republican candidates are running for elected office. However, many White women vote Republican. After all is said and done, there is much more likely to be unity between Black men and Black women and White men and White women, than there is to be unity between Black women and White women. Many White women have White males as brothers, fathers, cousins, uncles, grandfathers, etc. Many heterosexual White women fall in love with White men, have sex with White men, marry White men, have children and raise families with White men, and share culture, identity, schools, neighborhoods, communities, institutions, interests and a common destiny with White men. The same applies to Black women in their relations with Black men. It therefore should not be surprising that many White women will support White men that in many cases clearly do not have their best interests at heart. Conversely, many Black women support reactionary, patriarchal leaders such as Minister Louis Farrakhan and numerous Black preachers.

Many White Republicans will support reactionary Black Republicans they could use to support a White supremacist agenda. For example, they have fawned over Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain.

Many White Republicans will also support Black Christian ministers that oppose the so-called “homosexual agenda.” For example, they are welcoming of Black ministers in the U.S. that work against proposed same-sex marriage legislation. In Africa, they work with Christian leaders that support laws making homosexuality illegal. By working with Blacks in cases such as these, White Republicans claim that this is evidence that they are not racist.

All White Republicans are not bigots. However, few of them seem to wonder why bigots feel so very comfortable and right at home in their party. Until they deal with this problem, many will continue to identify the GOP as a party of the bigots, by the bigots and for the bigots