Blog for Democracy

Hate Speech

Be prepared for Andre’ Walker to call me a drama queen. I don’t care. I’ve sat on this for several hours because honestly, I didn’t want to give Andre’ the attention he is probably seeking. But, he’s crossed a line, and because he holds official positions in the Democratic Party, I want to make it perfectly clear that he doesn’t speak for me.

In case you haven’t heard, earlier today, Andre’ posted an offensive, and arguably, down-right dangerous statement on his Facebook page. I don’t want to do him the favor of repeating his hate-speech here, but you can read all about it over at Georgia Politico.  Several people, including the DPG, have called on him to apologize. Here’s the DPG statement:

“This hateful speech has no place in the Democratic Party. Andre should apologize for offending countless Georgia citizens who are already targeted by these types of comments way too often.”

No dice.  He’s refusing to apologize, and he has clarified that his comment applied to both gay and straight men, like that’s supposed to make it okay. It doesn’t, but his comment certainly offended both gay and straight people.

Speech is free but not without consequence. Andre’ needs to apologize, and then he needs to resign from the State Committee.  I’m not holding my breath.

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Amy Morton

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35 responses to “Hate Speech”

  1. Therebel Avatar
    Therebel

    Hey I at first thought Nathan Deal had said this!

  2. FCDP Avatar
    FCDP

    Andre Walker is only in a State Committee seat through the Fulton County Party because the county party is such a mess that it can barely hold meetings much less legit State committee elections.

    There are actually State Committee members from Fulton who died before President Obama was elected that still hold their seats.

  3. Jen B. Avatar
    Jen B.

    Agreed.

  4. PaulaG Avatar
    PaulaG

    The only shocking thing about this is that Andre has “friends”.

  5. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Yep, AW’s rooting sneers are not worthy of much attention. Beyond noting the sniveling bigotry which seems to be attached to him & seemingly gladly used by him for self gratified entertainment. JMP

  6. griftdrift Avatar
    griftdrift

    How this numb nuts keeps being put on your state committee is beyond me

  7. Will Avatar
    Will

    People, please! The major networks have no interest in this “story” and Georgia Democrats are not be havin a PR problem because of what (of all people) Andre Walker has said or done. Lord knows we have been down this road before so I see no reason to change our usual tactic.

    We can deal with Andre later. In the meantime let us continue to focus on getting our Democratic slate elected. Volunteer for and donate to your candidate of choice

    Andre should be considered pocket lint.

  8. Ed Avatar
    Ed

    I would +1 and add there was exactly zero reason for the DPG to get involved publicly with this, when it was his personal page.

  9. Sara Avatar
    Sara

    I dislike Andre an awful lot, but I find it pretty pointless to get up in arms about something offensive he posted on his Facebook status message. I don’t see how that is relevant to his official role within the party. Are we going to kick everyone off who’s ever said anything offensive on Twitter or facebook? Are we going to start monitoring that now?

    There are plenty of good reasons that he should no longer have an official role within the Democratic party, chief among them that he doesn’t really support Democrats, but I would much prefer that we focus on those reasons and not this one.

  10. Amy Morton Avatar
    Amy Morton

    @Sklyer. Well said. I’d add that while I expect that the DPG will hear from those in the LGBT community about this, the Party also needs to hear from others who find intolerance and the suggestion that the world would be a better place if certain young men killed themselves unacceptable, and certainly not a “sweet tweet.”

    The suggestion that this remark doesn’t matter because he just posted it on his own Facebook page ignores the fact that social media is the modern day public square. What if it was a real public square rather than a virtual one? If Andre’ couldn’t hide behind his computer screen, would he be willing to make that remark live and in person to a group that includes those he disparages?

    I’m guessing no.

  11. Skyler Akins Avatar
    Skyler Akins

    By the way, let this be a lesson to legislators that read this blog on the Georgia House and Senate Floor now, as the headline of his blog is now “Unfiltered Response to Pussygate”….I’m not too sure a lot of Georgia voters would like seeing this pulled up on their elected officials computers during votes…you never know what reporter is watching!

  12. Skyler Akins Avatar
    Skyler Akins

    I was very offended, and thought it was way over the line. It is his personal facebook page, yes, but when you are in an organization, this case the DPG, or in Saxby’s case, a Senators Office, what you say or post is no longer about you, but reflects on the organization you represent.

    For those that say this is not that important, we have had four public suicides this week from GLBT teenagers. No matter what his intent, or what “rap slang” he was using, it is in no way defensible to post such hurtful, and at very least unprofessional, words on the internet for people to read.

    The DPG should pursue this matter, and I am very pleased with their response to this [so far]. Someone mentioned we should focus on the Republicans, and that is so very true, but the Democratic Party has a duty to stand up and protect the most vulnerable people in our society, to show that we will stand up for people, not throw them under the bus for political gain, or stand silently by as our “leaders” attack our people.

  13. Steve Golden Avatar
    Steve Golden

    It’s not just Dustin that was offended, tho.

  14. JerryT Avatar
    JerryT

    Everyone I have ever known named Simon never finished grade school.

  15. Amy Morton Avatar
    Amy Morton

    I agree with all of that, except that this particular acting-out should have been ignored. Once it caught air, I think we had to respond.

  16. Andre is my friend Avatar
    Andre is my friend

    The bottom line is that Andre is a tool and will always be a tool. The DPG and the State Party should have a censure policy in their bylaws whereby a State Committee member can be censured for comments they make that are against the Party’s platform and/or the publicly support a Republican. Until a censure process is in place just continue to ignore Andre and treat him like the ass that he is. P.S. if Dustin Baker is so outraged by Andre then he should remove Andre’s blog from his blogroll.

  17. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Well I’ve never seen that here SJ. Do point that out, will you? It’s exceedingly rare in most ‘lib’ places. Even with folks we don’t agree with.

  18. Simon Jester Avatar
    Simon Jester

    That’s right. Liberals would never recommend that someone should go kill themselves (unless they don’t agree with them).

  19. Amy Morton Avatar
    Amy Morton

    There is certainly an argument to be made that responding to Andre’ in any way only gives him the attention he wants and makes the situation worse. I had that argument with myself for several hours before I posted this. I decided that I wanted to respond to him because at that point the story had already become quite public, because he holds official party positions and because I do consider what he posted to be dangerous hate-filled speech. Finally, in my professional practice, I have had the opportunity to work with gay teens and see them struggle with these kinds of messages. Take my word for it – this type of speech is not inconsequential.

    The timing of this was also a factor in my decision to post. In September, 43 United States Senators cast votes that again made it clear that gay soldiers are welcome to die defending freedom they may not fully enjoy. That same day, a still-anonymous staffer in Sen. Chambliss’ office used government property to post a outrageous slur on a popular gay blog. Later that same day, a Rutgers student advertised that he was about to again broadcast his unsuspecting roommate’s sexual encounter with another man. The next day, Tyler, his roommate posted a message on Facebook and jumped off the George Washington Bridge. My point is, that while these events may seem only to be related in a temporal fashion, a culture that tolerates bigotry contributes to these sorts of tragedies.

    No, I don’t think what Andre’ did rises to the level of what the Rutgers students did, but as I considered those events, I became convinced that when people with perceived authority remain silent or act in a way that bolsters prejudice, then others need to speak up, so I did.

    Andre’ holds an official position in an organization I am a part of. This story caught wind long before I wrote it. I wanted to make it clear that Andre’s doesn’t speak for me or for the DPG. And, yes, I think he should apologize and resign. Unfortunately, I don’t think he will do either one.

  20. lol Avatar
    lol

    On the one hand, Andre made an awful comment. On the other, he wasn’t saying it in any capacity as DPG committee member or anything like that correct? His comment about Isakson is grounds for removal understandably however.

    At the end of the day he was desperate for attention.

    For a slightly more serious question, wouldn’t Andre meet Fiddy’s description?

  21. NoDealGeorgia Avatar
    NoDealGeorgia

    Unreal. He says well, apologizing for his homophobia won’t bring any jobs to our state. So he asks why even bother apologizing?

    What he IS doing is contributing to the culture of fear and hate thats in this state. A leader in the democratic party agreed that gay guys, that gay teens, should shoot themselves. I’m stunned.

    As far as I’m concerned, he’s no better than Nathan Deal, and this whole thing does seem like a pretty pathetic attention plea. Still, we can’t stand for bigotry in our state.

    He calls this a distraction. It’s a distraction you caused Andre – and the longer it takes to get an apology, the longer the story goes on, and the longer “democrats stay off message.” Although, being the party of integrity and love and “big tent” is part of the Democratic message – something you’re clearly against.

    Pathetic.

  22. JerryT Avatar
    JerryT

    Guess who wrote this just the other day about a BfD/Jason Shepard post?

    “So much for raising the level of political discourse in this state.”

    If you guessed Andre, you would be right!

  23. 1776 Avatar
    1776

    Ahh, Snagglepuss strikes again. (Shoutout to TFOG!)

    I am of two minds on this. On the one hand Andre is still trying to determine who he is in a lot of ways, and we should respect that process. He has a lot of competing influences. I know that most of the female gender is rooting for him to ignore them completely, but he is not so sure that’s the route he is going to take.

    About the only positive reinforcement he gets for his political views is when he supports a Republican (not from dems, obviously) and the only attention he gets from dems is when he acts like an idiot (here, for example) or is a paid blogger and does not disclose it, and that’s all negative.

    So, while I have some sympathy for the kid, the party cannot have people like him speaking for it, and he should be removed as soon as practicable.

  24. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Well I be breathing for a reason. Mostly though? This has little to do with Andre, personally. And I did not suggest any course of action be taken. And I’m well acquainted with the past futile efforts of a Herb Butler (RIP) sort of resolution here. But thanks for this ‘insider’ info, I guess. JMP

  25. Andre is my friend Avatar
    Andre is my friend

    JMP and Amy need toi stop huffing and puffing because the DPG isn’t going to do anything. Andre has kess than 100 days left in his tenure as a DPG state committee member. Jane and Matt are going to let his comment crawl back under the rug. If they didn’t force a Party Chair to resign after she publicly endorsed a Republican do ya’ll really think they are going to do something because Andre posted something stupid on his personal facebook page? Get a grip and understand the reality of your weak Party leaders and structure.

  26. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Well goodness knows what anyone might do about it. Or want to. But it is easily recognized as above & beyond his usual careless stupidities, and grading well into the hateful territory. Which should & might be noted. Rarely is suicide so casually & cavalierly recommended for anything, let alone such idiocy. By anyone. But you’re right. We clearly don’t give him the attention he craves but nevertheless so infrequently merits. JMP

  27. Andre is my friend Avatar
    Andre is my friend

    It wasn’t meant to be an argumentative statement. Bottom line is that Andre is not worth writing a blog post about. Secondly the DPG isn’t going to do anything about it. They are not going to force him to resign or be removed because that organization has no teeth or bite. The DPG is weak and will never stand up to Andre and his antidemocratic antics. Andre is laughing at the DPG for putting out a ridiculous press release. Why don’t the DPG spend their time fighting Republicans then worrying about what Andre thinks.

  28. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Gosh, there’s a convincing adult argument!

  29. Andre is my friend Avatar
    Andre is my friend

    I can’t believe anyone cares what Andre says, writes, or retweets. He is still looking to get attention anyway he can. And you guys are helping his unworthy ego.

  30. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Well beyond the usual & typical idiocy to something that’s fairly hateful & perfectly needlessly so. And an incomprehensible argument any way you want to slice it. From any angle. Just sorry, all around. JMP

  31. Amy Morton Avatar
    Amy Morton

    Yes, and finds it “sweet” and that “maybe he has a point.” Can you imagine the thought process? First, he had to see the tweet. Then, he had to decide that it was worth repeating. Then, he had to decide how to intro it. He also had to push post and has not only decided to leave it up but has reaffirmed it.

    Here’s the latest:

    “(addresses a person)…don’t hold your breath for that apology. Believe it or not, gay men aren’t the only men who don’t eat p***y. The sweet tweet of 50 Cent did not single out gay men, and neither did I. So put your drama queen tiara back in its box, and call me when you get outraged over something that really matters.”

    Seriously, I know we have a big tent, but advocating that the we’d be better off if some people just went ahead and killed themselves? That’s not even in the same campground.

  32. Jules Avatar
    Jules

    I find it more troubling that he’s responding to 50cent..really…a new low

  33. Amy Morton Avatar
    Amy Morton

    If he does not resign, he should be removed, and as quickly as possible.

  34. MK Avatar
    MK

    quite simply, if these kinds of comments stand and he doesn’t get canned from the Fulton Dem committee – I’ll be voting Libertarian for governor. I’m gay, and I’m quite tired of being treated like shit in the Democratic Party of Georgia.

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