It’s hard enough for Republicans to make their voices heard given the Democrats’ massive majorities in both chambers of Congress. Things get even more challenging for the GOP when it has to fend off bombastic charges of racism.

The incident in question occurred on the day before the House voted to pass health care legislation. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, walking across the street from their office buildings to the Capitol, decided to take a symbolic stroll through an enormous crowd of Obamacare protesters.  

Considering that congressmen usually walk this route through underground tunnels, it is fair to say that they were trying to make a scene. They wanted the media attention. They wanted to rub this legislative victory in the faces of thousands of political opponents. And hey, maybe this would incite some racist rhetoric that could help paint the protesters as hateful bigots.  

Problem is, the racist comments never came. So the congressmen made some up.  
Reps. Andre Carson and John Lewis claimed to have been called the N-word a whopping 15 times. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s office released a statement alleging that he was spit on. Both are serious, astounding charges. Both are, as of this writing, entirely unsubstantiated.  

The crowds booed and expressed their displeasure, but despite the plethora of television networks and cell phone cameras, there was absolutely no video or audio evidence of any hateful action. And last weekend, Cleaver distanced himself from his own office’s press release, claiming that he personally never made a spitting allegation and refusing to talk about the (non)event any further.

Such incidents, when they actually occur, are abhorrent and should be condemned. And it is unfortunately true that hateful speech occurs in this country, probably more often than any of us would expect.  

But it is beyond irresponsible to wrongly charge health care protesters with using the N-word and spitting on congressmen. If you’re going to make that charge, you had better be right about it. Making such an accusation falsely is all the more reprehensible.  

Democrats have significantly ramped up the racial rhetoric during the past several months, making sure to constantly equate health care reform with civil rights legislation. ‘This is the Civil Rights Act of the 21st century,’ Rep. James Clyburn said.

For more than a year, a small group of liberals has been trying to delegitimize Tea Partiers and Obama’s political opponents by casting them as racists. This is a typical left-wing tactic. In their view, the only reason to object to Obama’s marvelous policies of redistribution and social justice would be a prejudice against black people in general.  

Americans should be free to protest Obama and the Democrats without facing accusations of racism. These unsubstantiated charges are damaging to the democratic foundations of this country. They turn people away from politics and serve as a distraction from substantive policy debates that are needed now more than ever.  

Rarely am I genuinely disappointed in the nature of contemporary American politics. I don’t generally buy the argument that the system is broken or that conditions are overly polarized.  

In my view, it is desirable to have as many Americans as possible engaged in the political process. As a result, there are going to be some serious disagreements — this is to be expected.  

But when our politicians seem more interested in trumping up allegations of racism than debating the merits of a massive restructuring of our economy, then we really do have a problem.  

Jimmy Paul is a junior political science major. His column appears weekly and he can be reached at jdpaul01@syr.edu.

Published on April 7, 2010 at 12:00 pm