Arkansas GOP State Rep Thinks Slavery Was Blessing in Disguise for Blacks

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Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 01:24 pm

Republican State Rep. Jon Hubbard of Jonesboro, Arkansas has some instructive things to say about black Americans in his book available on Amazon, “Letters to the Editor: Confessions of a Frustrated Conservative.” For example, he believes that slavery was a blessing in disguise for black people, as pointed out earlier today by Talk Business.

Hubbard justifies slavery as a blessing for black people because they got citizenship in America as a result (never mind that they may have preferred to live with their families rather than be abducted and sold as human slaves):

“… the institution of slavery that the black race has long believed to be an abomination upon its people may actually have been a blessing in disguise. The blacks who could endure those conditions and circumstances would someday be rewarded with citizenship in the greatest nation ever established upon the face of the Earth.” (Pages 183-89)

Hubbard wants African Americans to appreciate all that they gained via slavery:

African Americans must “understand that even while in the throes of slavery, their lives as Americans are likely much better than they ever would have enjoyed living in sub-Saharan Africa.”

Hubbard seeks to justify slavery by suggesting that it was no worse than living in Africa:

“Knowing what we know today about life on the African continent, would an existence spent in slavery have been any crueler than a life spent in sub-Saharan Africa?” (Pages 93 and 189)

Hubbard’s “frustrations” are clear. Black people are ruining our education system when they should be grateful that we used them as human tools to enrich the elite whites:

“… one of the stated purposes of school integration was to bring black students up to a level close to that of white students. But, to the great disappointment of everyone, the results of this theory worked exactly in reverse of its intended purpose, and instead of black students rising to the educational levels previously attained by white students, the white students dropped to the level of black students. To make matters worse the lack of discipline and ambition of black students soon became shared by their white classmates, and our educational system has been in a steady decline ever since.” (Page 27)

Hubbard calls himself a Christian in his opening, and then proceeds to explain how it was a blessing for other human beings to be subjugated to the often brutal conditions of human slavery, stolen from their home land and ripped away from their families, so that they could enjoy the “freedom” of America once they were lucky enough to obtain citizenship.

Hubbard’s resentments are pretty common among Southern Republicans (and it seems, Republicans in general these days). They feel put upon by having the inequity and immorality of slavery pointed out, and their response is that black people were really actually lucky to be slaves and they’ve had about enough complaining from liberals and blacks about the inequities in the system. Shut up and be grateful is the message.

Hubbard goes on in his book to explain that Democrats give “entitlement” handouts to blacks in order to keep them “dependent”. If those words are ringing a bell, it’s because Mitt Romney has made a campaign of these underlying ideas as his recent caught on tape comments about the 47% revealed, lest anyone still be unclear as to the point of his inaccurate welfare to work ads.

The Republican message in 2012 is: Let’s restore America to the “way it was” back when white men had power and the brown people knew their place and were grateful for it. The brown people are ruining American education and sucking the system dry — they are to blame for all of our woes. (I’ve factchecked this over and over again, but just in case, there are more white people on food stamps and Obama did not remove the work requirement from welfare.)

Republicans claim they aren’t racists, and then things like this happen and are met with the silence of complicity until they go mainstream (see Todd Akin), at which point Republicans run away from the person caught, but not from the underlying beliefs and ideas that so repulsed the nation (see the Republican Party platform that mirrors Todd Akin’s beliefs on women’s health).

How do we know this? Because Hubbard published this on March 29, of 2009 and he was subsequently installed in the state House in 2010, with the Tea Party sweep of the nation. Who paid for his campaign? Party committees, aka the Republican Party.

Hubbard is being challenged this year by Democrat Harold Copenhaven. Lest you think Hubbard’s racism is confined to the written page, he demanded a state funded audit into whether the University of Arkansas spent any money discussing the plight of undocumented workers.

Hubbard also refused to tell citizens where he stands on any of the issues in the 2012 Political Courage Test, reminding Americans that Mitt Romney isn’t the only policy ghost in town.

Excerpts from TalkBusiness and others

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