Rick Perry Rebuked for Association With Racial Slur

Rick Perry Rebuked for Association With Racial Slur 

By Hazel Trice Edney

perry

Gov. Rick Perry 

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Texas Gov. Rick Perry is being rebuked by civil rights leaders and a fellow Republican presidential candidate as he defends himself against allegations that he invited people to a hunting camp that even recently was nicknamed the racial epithet, “Niggerhead.”

The Washington Post broke the story about a West Texas hunting camp that Perry once leased with his father in the early 1980s. Perry, who has often referred to himself as a Confederate since his entry into the Republican presidential race, now finds himself trying to shake the image.

The Washington Post story revealing that Texas Governor Rick Perry hunted and hosted lawmakers at a hunting camp called Niggerhead is alarming and displays a new height in racial insensitivity in national politics,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton in a statement. “Mr. Perry should immediately fully explain how he could have gone to a ranch and hunted [in a camp] that is named after such an obvious racist term or he should withdraw from the race. He is either blindly insensitive or hopelessly unaware of where he spends his time. Either way it makes one wonder if he is ready for prime time and certainly whether he is ready for the White House.”

The report said the offensive term was painted in block letters across a large rock at the gate of property. Perry has said he agrees that the term is “offensive” and said his father actually painted over the word shortly after leasing the land. But, the Post story cites at least seven sources who indicate the epithet remained visible in recent years – even as recent as this summer through a thin coat of paint. The Post has stood by its story.

Meanwhile, Black GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain made rounds on Sunday morning talk shows criticizing Perry and accusing him of tolerating the sign.

Cain said on Fox, “There isn’t a more vile, negative word than the n-word … And for him to leave it there as long as he did before he painted over it, it’s just plain insensitive to a lot of Black people in this country.”

The Post quoted Perry’s communications director Ray Sullivan as agreeing with Cain’s description of the rock, but denying that the rock went uncovered. “Mr. Cain is wrong about the Perry family’s quick action to eliminate the word on the rock, but is right the word written by others long ago is insensitive and offensive,” Sullivan said. “That is why the Perrys took quick action to cover and obscure it.”