Some of the things that Republican candidates have said recently sure border on the smear of a race. But sadly they still get a rise out of voters and get people out to vote. We need to make sure we don’t forget these slights. So hopefully you haven’t forgotten who made these statements or committed some of these acts already:

1) Who said “Poor kids don’t work unless it is illegal.”

2) This candidate’s family has a ranch with racial epithet in the name of the camp. Who is he?

3) Oops – not a candidate today, but probably soon. Who said “The fact of the matter is, I think people would have been happy to have a referendum on civil rights rather than fighting and dying in the streets in the South”

4) This candidate denied any link to a racially charged newsletter that carried his name despite editors claiming he approved most of the stories.

5) After saying this “I don’t want to make black peoples’ lives better by giving them somebody else’s money,” this candidate denied he said “black” and actually said “blah.”

6) A blast from the past. This eventual president started his presidential run in Philadelphia, Mississippi by invoking the vision of “a welfare queen who has eighty names, thirty addresses, twelve Social Security cards and is collecting veteran’s benefits on four non-existing deceased husbands. And she is collecting Social Security on her cards. She’s got Medicaid, getting food stamps, and she is collecting welfare under each of her names. Her tax-free cash income is over $150,000.”

Let’s change the pace here and highlight some achievements of the AA community:

7) This man is probably one of America’s most famous scientists. I am a big fan simply because he gave us peanut butter among his hundreds of creations using peanuts, sweet potatoes and other agricultural crops. His life included a stint at Iowa State where there is a building named in his honor. Who is this famous scientist?

8) This man was right in the middle of the civil rights movement. In 1960 he helped organize the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee or SNCC. Following the passage of the civil rights bill, he was elected to the Georgia state legislature and a major fight ensued to get him seated. He was also a founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center and led that group from 1971 to 1979. Recently he is best known as the past president of the NAACP. Who is he?

9) This guy is out of this world, literally. Can you remember the name of the first African-American in space?

10) This woman was the first African-American to run for president for a major political partyy. Remember her name?

Well, I hope that last part taxed you a little bit. One thing is for sure, the world has problems and we can’t waste the talent needed to solve them no matter what color or creed they are.

Answers???

1) Newt Gingrich
2) Rick Perry
3) Chris Christy.
4) Ron Paul
5) Rick Santorum
6) Ronald Reagan
7) George Washington Carver.
8) Julian Bond
9) Guion Bluford
10) Shirley Chisholm (democrat of course.)