Racist, homophobic graphic of Obama rocks NC marriage equality fight

Last week when President Obama voiced opposition to the upcoming North Carolina referendum vote which would ban marriage equality in the state, several groups supporting this referendum voiced their displeasure.

However, the prize for bad taste and lack of subtlety goes to the Meck Deck, an official blog of the conservative John Locke Foundation for the following image which should lead decent people speechless:

The graphic, which has since been taken down, accompanied a piece which claimed that Obama was "pandering for votes." My guess is that the author was implying that Obama was offering fried chicken to African-Americans and sex to gays The awful mess was written by Tara Servatius, former right-wing radio commentator for Charlotte's WBT AM, and a former regular contributor to Meck Deck.

I say former regular contributor because she abruptly resigned. According to Pam's House Blend, John Hood, president of the John Lock Foundation sent out a press release claiming that Servatius was merely a freelance writer. He also said that he was embarrassed and angered over the incident.

Needless to say, Hood's apology isn't exactly smoothing things over. William Barber, head of the NC NAACP, issued a statement calling the image reckless:

We at the NCNAACP have learned of the disgusting picture of our President on the John Locke Foundation blog and website. What we have seen so far has both racist and homophobic overtones, both of which are contrary to the fundamentals of our democracy. It's outrageous and it shows the kind of racialized, mean-spirited and divisive political attitudes that still exist in the South. On Thursday we will demand to know who authorized and developed such a racist and bigoted portrayal to be placed on the site of an organization that seeks to have so much influence into the shaping of public policy in NC. Whoever did it is completely over the line. It is reckless and dangerous. And should not only be an afront to the black community, the civil rights community, the LBGT community, but every North Carolinian.

According to station WRAL.com, Barber and Hood met to discuss the image. And out of this meeting, several things were discovered, including the fact that the image of Obama had been present on the blog for several days. Hood claimed that he only learned about it late Wednesday.

In the same article, Servatius made the following claim:
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"If it has offended anyone, I sincerely regret that. That was certainly not my intention, and I would feel awful if that was the case," Servatius said in a statement.

She went on in a postscript to state that she didn't think about the racial implications of the image.

"I simply don't think in those terms. Unfortunately, some people do. To me, fried chicken is simply a Southern cuisine," she concluded.

Interestingly enough, Servatius said nothing about the inclusion of the high heels and chains in the Obama graphic.

At the present,  I am not aware if the John Locke Foundation is involved in the referendum fight. However, whatever the case may be, this incident is an excellent learning experience for those African-Americans who seek to claim that gays are trying to "piggyback" off of the civil rights movement.

I personally don't see one group can "piggyback" off of another if they have the same enemies. However, I think it's going to be a lesson lost to some people (I'm talking to you, Patrick Wooden).

Hat tip to Pam's House Blend and Art Pope Exposed