Santorum on Black People?

Remember that marriage pledge that Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann signed? The one that wanted to ban porn? Well, as it turns out, the pledge is even more sinister than previously anticipated. Here's a passage from the original version (that has since been removed):

Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA's first African-American President.

One of the great American films is a little silent number called The Birth of a Nation. Released in 1915, it revolutionized the already fledgling film industry in the United States. It also portrayed, in no uncertain terms, an image of black people that was so outrageous that it offended white audiences in 1915. The idea was an old one: that black people were so savage that without the calming influence of a white-controlled society, they would revert to a level of violence and sexual aggression found primarily in wild animals.


This idea had been used as an argument against abolition. It was used again to argue against African-American suffrage and desegregation. I thought that we had moved past this kind of rhetoric in American society. I was under the impression that whatever kind of racism we have today, we still recognize the humanity of all American citizens. Obviously, however, this isn't the case for Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, and The Family Leader (the organization that wrote and promoted the pledge).

This isn't okay. This isn't something you can remove from the pledge and pretend it never happened. You can't apologize for stating that black people were better off as slaves than they are now. That's not how it works. Do us all a favor, Dumb and Dumber, and stop running for president. It's offensive.