NAACP President: Ron Paul Is Not A Racist

Independent Voter

NAACP President: Ron Paul Is Not A Racist
Linder says Paul being smeared because he is a threat to the establishment
Paul Joseph Watson
Sunday, January 13, 2008

Austin NAACP President Nelson Linder, who has known Ron Paul for 20 years, unequivocally dismissed charges that the Congressman was a racist in light of recent smear attempts, and said the reason for him being attacked was that he was a threat to the establishment.

Linder joined Alex Jones for two segments on his KLBJ Sunday show this evening, during which he commented on the controversy created by media hit pieces that attempted to tarnish Paul as a racist by making him culpable for decades old newsletter articles written by other people.

“Knowing Ron Paul’s intent, I think he is trying to improve this country but I think also, when you talk about the Constitution and you constantly criticize the federal government versus state I think a lot of folks are going to misconstrue that….so I think it’s very easy for folks who want to to take his position out of context and that’s what I’m hearing,” said Linder.

Knowing Ron Paul and having talked to him, I think he’s a very fair guy I just think that a lot of folks do not understand the Libertarian platform,” he added.

Asked directly if Ron Paul was a racist, Linder responded “No I don’t,” adding that he had heard Ron Paul speak out about police repression of black communities and mandatory minimum sentences on many occasions.

Dr. Paul has also publicly praised Martin Luther King as his hero on many occasions spanning back 20 years.

“I’ve read Ron Paul’s whole philosophy, I also understand what he’s saying from a political standpoint and why people are attacking him,” said Linder.

NAACP head likens voter ID measures to Jim Crow

Reuters


The head of the nation's oldest and largest civil rights group on Monday condemned state laws requiring photo identification of voters as an attempt to disenfranchise minorities through some "of the last existing legal pillars of Jim Crow."
  

NAACP President Benjamin Jealous said a wave of newly enacted photo-ID requirements stemmed from what he saw as "the worst and most racist elements" in conservative Tea Party groups that have immersed themselves in state politics since the 2010 elections.

He compared photo ID laws to poll taxes and other past restrictions -- since struck down by the courts -- designed to keep blacks from voting in the segregated Deep South. And he said the latest measures were part of a racial backlash against the 2008 election of President Barack Obama.

"Our voting rights are under attack because a few years ago, we had a great breakthrough in this country," Jealous said in a speech at the 102nd annual NAACP convention, held in Los Angeles. "We broke the color line at the White House."

He said the NAACP would mount education campaigns aimed at preventing minorities and the poor from being disenfranchised.

Supporters of photo ID laws, backed mainly by Republican legislators and governors, say they are aimed at thwarting election fraud and are no more discriminatory than requiring IDs for cashing a check or making credit-card purchases.

Jealous' comments were dismissed as preposterous by Hans von Spakovsky, a former Federal Election Commission member and a senior legal fellow for the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank, who said they showed a "complete ignorance of the voting process."

CASE FOR PHOTO IDENTIFICATION

Von Spakovsky said lawsuits challenging voter ID laws in Indiana and Georgia were thrown out in both cases because "the plaintiffs could not produce a single individual" who was kept from voting by those laws.

Voter turnout by minorities actually increased in those two states since voter ID requirements were imposed, he added.

"Jim Crow laws weren't just about voting. They were about impeding public accommodations and public transportation. Yet, you cannot check into a hotel anywhere in America without a photo ID. You cannot get on any airplane without a photo ID, and I don't hear the NAACP claiming those requirements are somehow Jim Crow," Von Spakovsky said.

Fourteen states require voters to present a government-issued photo identification at the polls according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.