Republican racial values

The next time some Republican blowhard wonders aloud why blacks vote so overwhelmingly Democratic, you can just point them to this story:

NAACP flap resurfaces with Yow T-shirt

To hear Commissioner Billy Yow tell it, it's just a shirt.

In fact, he said, it's a shirt he's been hawking quietly for eight months now that just happens to feature a character urinating on the letters "NAACP," a reference to the national civil rights group.

But the shirt has created a buzz, thanks largely to prominent mention in a new local weekly tabloid affiliated with another county commissioner, and it could resurrect old feuds involving race, politics and the county's elected governing board.

"If someone labels me a racist, that's just their narrow-mindedness," Yow, who is white, told a group of reporters gathered in front of his house Wednesday afternoon.

The shirt uses the stars-and-bars design of the Confederate battle emblem, which has been labeled by some, including chapters of the NAACP, as a racist emblem. It is touted by others as a symbol of Southern pride and heritage.

Yow called the design "a symbol of freedom."

The shirt, Yow said, was an exercise of free speech originally prompted by his 2003 battle with local NAACP chapters that led to calls for his removal.

"I'm still not over it," Yow said of the fight. "God forgives; Billy Yow don't."

And what was the dispute about? It was about Yow openly discriminating against any NAACP member in a hiring matter. "NAACP member" being a euphemism for ... well, you know.

The shirt's history is rooted in last year's search for a new county manager and Yow's assertion that Alston, who was then chairman of the board, wanted to find an NAACP member for the post. Yow was quoted in February 2003 as saying that he wouldn't vote to hire an NAACP member "unless he was very overly qualified."

That and other comments sparked protests from local chapters of the NAACP and a vote by the county commissioners that Yow interpreted as a censure. The board eventually rescinded that move after Yow filed a lawsuit.

Yow eventually dropped the suit, and the county hired Willie Best, who is black, as county manager.

Yow's racial bias couldn't be any clearer -- and his wink-and-nudge act isn't fooling anyone.

He is, of course, a GOP stalwart.

[ Thanks to a complete bunch of pants, via Frograbbitmonkey.]