Congressman Jim Clyburn (D-SC, House Majority Whip) recently spoke out on South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s decision to decline funding from President Obama’s economic stimulus plan. Sanford (R) has held the conviction that the state of South Carolina will only be hurt by the plan because of issues concerning what becomes of newly created programs once their funding runs out.
Clyburn’s rebuttal came earlier this week when he claimed that Sanford, along with at least three other state governors, had intentions of begging off stimulus money because South Carolina is a part of the so-called “Black Belt”. In other words, it is a state in which a large part of the minority is comprised of African-Americans. Sanford’s office issued a counterstatement claiming that Clyburn is prone to pulling out “the race card”.
In reality, Clyburn claims he was insulted by Sanford’s hesitation to accept stimulus money as a majority of the counties that will benefit from the funding are primarily comprised of African-Americans. However, WIS TV in Columbia, SC would have one think otherwise as they reported only the brief comments of Clyburn which make his comments seem as though he is accusing the governor’s office of racism. In fact, Clyburn never explicitly said anything of the sort and claims that he has never used the term in a derogatory sense, and never will.
In my opinion, Clyburn made a misstep. No matter what his original intentions were concerning the comments he made, race should have never been a factor in his press release. I generally support Democrats in South Carolina but this is one time where I have to step back, criticize, and hold the party responsible for their actions. Racial ethics is a serious conversation, and to use it as leverage to accuse the government of wrongful ideaologies is the not most prudent of choices.
