By Lafe Tolliver, Esq
Guest Column
Bear with me. I just had a Twilight experience seeing an interview wherein Republican Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, yeah…THAT Graham, was caught practically crying into the camera about how needful and necessary it is for Black people to vote for Herschel Walker.
I kid you not! I saw the film clip and saw the puffy eyes of Graham and his red face as if he was either crying or was about to cry for the good ol’ days when Massa could tell the “nigra” how to vote…or else.
Graham sat there and plead and exhorted the listeners to under the importance and gravity of having Herschel Walker become a US Senator from the Peach State.
In the convoluted thinking of Graham, Herschel should be seen as an exemplar of all that is good and wholesome about politics and more than that, Herschel would be a pristine candidate for young Black youths to look up to and role model after him!
For the morally bankrupt GOP and the feckless Lindsey Graham, having Herschel in the US Senate would be a boom for race relations in the country, the South and would showcase that the GOP is color blind.
You could be thinking, why would Graham, who one day was finished with Trump after the January 6 coup attempt but then, days later, was singing his praises and playing golf with the coup leader, now be so anxious to bring Herschel into the Senate?
The answer is simple: The GOP and Graham need everybody rowing in the same direction so that they do not lose control of the Senate; and if it takes a smarmy person like Graham, who never was a champion of voting rights for people of color and never stood up to the race baiters in his party, then so be it.
The gall of Graham to lecture Black people on what is good for us and for him to assume that we do not know ‘what is what’ about the offensive candidacy of Herschel Walker.
Graham, Trump and others “love” Herschel because Herschel is so malleable in their hands that his presence in the US Senate would be akin to having a talking puppet in their pocket who says whatever the GOP wants to have said.
Let’s face it. The GOP only wants to inhabit the body of Herschel Walker. They are not looking to him for any edification on any pressing national issues such as climate control, gun violence, inflation or funding the war in Ukraine.
If there ever was a modern-day movie version of The Body Snatchers, it would star Lindsey Graham and his faithful minion…Herschel Walker.
In this up-to-date revision of that scary movie, you would see Graham kidnapping Herschel and giving him a lobotomy; and the new creature would be a smiling and grinning Hershel Walker, quick, able and happy to do the bidding of his GOP handlers.
Don’t let Graham fool you with his fake sincerity about the value of Herschel being a role model for present and future Black conservatives and how Walker’s presence would be gloriously uplifting to the nation as a whole.
Graham is simply telling Black folks: You are crazy not to vote in huge numbers for Herschel because he is a shining star for all to follow and applaud.
That is how demeaning Graham and others are to Black people, that they believe that any Black body they place before us should receive our seal of approval, because after all, white folks endorsed him and that endorsement should be good enough for, “you people.”
Who can gauge the racial arrogance and haughtiness of a Lindsey Graham as he tries to sell us Herschel Walker as he being a paragon of virtue and political savvy?
Yes, it is sad and embarrassing to see that Herschel is totally clueless as to how he is being played by the GOP, but Trump and others have seen how gullible Herschel is when he is being fussed over and made into a political TV star.
People like Graham and Trump have grave difficulty understanding that the days of Massa telling Black people to jump and our immediate response is, “How high?” are over.
Their culture informs them that Black people, like a Herschel Walker, are meant for brutish farm work and heavy labor, not to be placed in places of power and influence.
And, if perchance, such a Black person is needed to be brought from the farm and brought into the Big House and freshened up for ulterior political purposes, then Herschel is their guy.
He is big, likes to grin and smile, talks like a fifth grader and makes white folks feel “safe” and at ease around him.
So, of course Lindsey Graham felt the need to cry into the cameras about the need for Black people to come back to their senses and listen to Massa telling them what is right and what they ought to do about Herschel.
For Lindsey Graham, he thinks that If Herschel is their chosen boy to do their bidding, then surely Black people should also “git on da mule and ride it to victory!”
Contact Lafe Tolliver at tolliver@juno.com