OXON HILL, Md., (Reuters) – An event aimed at helping Republicans reach out to black voters devolved into arguments over race yesterday at an influential gathering of conservative activists, according to media reports.
The discussion at the Conservative Political Action Conference broke into a shouting match after a member of the audience accompanied by another man wearing the Confederate flag on his T-shirt said that white Southern males were being “systematically disenfranchised,” according to the website Talking Points Memo. Shouting ensued among audience members when the man suggested that former slave and 19th century writer Frederick Douglass was treated well by his owner.
“A young man who wasn’t a Tea Party Patriot, made some racially insensitive comments, he said: ‘Blacks should be happy that the slave master gave them shelter, clothing, and food,’“ said K. Carl Smith, an African-American conservative who led the discussion and describes himself as a “Frederick Douglass Republican.”
