In case you haven't been paying attention, the race for the 33rd Congressional District is still a pissing match likely to end up in a runoff between between Domingo Garcia and Marc Veasey for the Democratic nomination.
A quick recap: Garcia called big SUVs un-American, which led Veasey to proclaim his love for General Motors, which prompted Garcia to refer to Veasey as the "errand boy" of the corporate establishment, which Veasey's campaign and others decried as evidence of anti-black racism by Garcia. Garcia, in turn, accused Veasey of calling Civil Rights icon Joseph Lowery senile.
The latest salvo hit my inbox this morning. Veasey's campaign is now blasting Garcia for "trumpeting" an North Dallas Gazette editorial endorsing Garcia.
The campaign points to "multiple insulting phrases" directed toward African American candidates and politicians and helpfully culls some of the offenders:
"It seems the African American candidates have let their communities down while not embracing Hispanics either.""Unfortunately, African Americans continue to dominate the unemployment rates and African American politicians have seemingly done nothing short of delivering empty promises that gain momentum during the election process."
"For far too long Dallas African American politicians have over promised and under-delivered."
"African American political figures have done little to reach across the color line to include Hispanics and vice versa."
The North Dallas Gazette, huh. Can't you just picture a newsroom full of smug white people, white hoods folded neatly beside the typewriter for easy access, hammering out screeds about the Negro problem (and speaking in adulatory tones about Hispanics?) from some McMansion in Preston Hollow?
Not quite. The paper is headquartered in Plano, not Preston Hollow, presumably not in a McMansion. More to the point, NDG can fairly be described as a black paper, one that is owned and staffed by black journalists and focuses its coverage on the black community.
You can see, then, why Garcia felt comfortable trumpeting the endorsement. From a "white paper," those statements would undoubtedly be labeled racist. But from a paper owned and run by African Americans, the statements trumpeted by the Veasey campaign feel more like an honest if oversimplified assessment of black political leadership from within.
In an email, NDG Editor Ruth Ferguson said the paper stands behind its editorial and declined further comment.
