Recently, the Los Angeles Times ran a column by Erika D. Smith, calling Republican California candidate for Governor Larry Elder the “Black face of white supremacy”.

Yawn. Of course he is, Erika. How dare Larry Elder, a black man, who, in accordance with your ideological convictions, not have realized that this dreaded, white-washed society we call the United States of America has oppressed and held him down a long time ago. Shame on Mr. Elder, a man who managed to become one of the most popular conservative radio hosts in America— not to mention his bachelor’s from Brown University and law degree from Michigan University— for not realizing the full extent of his oppression at the hands of those evil white Republicans who are merely using him as their token. 

The script is repeated over and over, and at this point it is probably far more beneficial to laugh at liberal columnists and pundits like Erika Smith and the outlets that spew their heavily misguided rhetoric than to actually become outraged and take it seriously.

Let’s make one thing clear: This heinous attack on Larry Elder isn’t happening because he has done anything that even remotely resembles racism, but merely because he has a decent chance of becoming the next governor of California. The fact of the matter is that Democrats have had something very close to a political monopoly on California for a long time now and a Republican, who also happens to be a black man, fueled by modern conservatism’s newfound energetic drive, is a modern Democrat’s worst nightmare, ideologically speaking. 

“I won’t lie. Few things infuriate me more than watching a Black person use willful blindness and cherry-picked facts to make overly simplistic arguments that whitewash the complex problems that come along with being Black in America,” asserts Smith in her column. 

She then goes on to quote long time Democrat political consultant Kerman Maddox: 

“As longtime political consultant Kerman Maddox put it: ‘Larry Elder goes out of his way to be at odds with the leadership in the Black community and at odds with the thinking in the Black community.’”

A black person making overly simplistic “whitewashed” arguments? Larry Elder at odds with the leadership in the Black community?

Which arguments exactly? The ones that you disagree with? And what is this leadership in the Black community you speak of? Were there elections that we’re not aware of? Did the entire Black community vote to elect a group of representatives that reflect the entire body of opinion of black American voters everywhere? 

Smith states that few things infuriate her more than watching a black person use “willful blindness” and cherry-picked facts to “whitewash” very complex political discussions. But in reality, what actually enrages her is seeing a black person not conforming to the socio-political monolithic standards that she would prefer all black Americans abide by. 

She can’t stand to listen to black conservatives because her ideological dogmata prevents her from understanding that conservative tenets are indeed compatible with black people, and more importantly, that black people have the mental capacity to come to their own political conclusions like everyone else. 

“Like a lot of Black people, though, I’ve learned that it’s often best just to ignore people like Elder. People who are — as my dad used to say — ‘skinfolk’ but not necessarily kinfolk.”  — because if you’re black and are of a politically conservative persuasion, you’re basically disqualified from being black, according to Ms. Smith. 

It’s this type of bigoted drivel that continues to pervade our discourse by lacing every facet of sound political discussion with accusations of racism where it does not actually exist. Any legitimate attempt at defending the merits (or lack thereof) of Gavin Newsom’s obvious incompetence as governor would surely be a bloodbath for the Democratic Party of California. People on the left have to play the race card on Larry Elder because it’s the only semi-viable option they have left.

The people of California deserve better than that.