If You Want To Vent Your Racism On Facebook, Maybe You Shouldn't Run For Congress

They all look the same to me; which one is Mark Walker?

After the North Carolina Republican primary runoff last month, many people were stunned by what happened in NC-06 (think Mayberry), where a heavy Establishment favorite, Phil Berger's son, Phil, Jr., was defeated by fringe right-wing extremist, Baptist Choral Pastor/gun nut Mark Walker. As we explained at the time, Walker is a Science denier who wants to abolish the minimum wage and raise the Social Security retirement age to 70. And Walker is not just anti-choice, but believes women who are the victims of rape or incest should be forced by the government to give birth to the child of her rapist. Walker wants to defund Planned Parenthood, and enthusiastically supports a so-called "personhood amendment" to the constitution, which would ban common forms of birth control. Everything about him reeks of statism and Big Government interfering in the private lives of regular working families.

What we didn't get into is his virulent racism. No one has come up with a photo of Walker running around in a KKK costume yet but… Facebook is forever. Thursday's High Point Enterprise shared a shockingly racist perspective with the bigoted pastor from his Facebook page.

In the post from April 2013 about families dependent on government assistance and African-Americans, Walker writes that “these Americans have no concept of the pride and joy when we, as parents, invest in our children.” In referring to meeting with a black male who grew up in an inner city, Walker-- who is white-- continues that government programs “strip away the essence of what God created him to be.”

Fjeld and Democratic Party leaders in North Carolina pounced on the comments, which gained national attention in political circles when they were highlighted by the online magazine Slate.

"The fact that Mr. Walker could say that African-American parents don't take pride in investing in their children reflects how out of touch he is with the working families in our district and state. Words like those are just plain wrong," Fjeld said.


State Rep. Alma Adams, D-Guilford, the Democratic nominee for the 12th Congressional District, said the sentiment in the Facebook post is insensitive.


“In today’s political climate it’s important to understand that we need leaders who understand the needs of all of our citizens and not make assumptions about people based on their race,” Adams said.


“Mark Walker’s comments are not only false but insensitive and insulting,” said Yvonne Johnson, a Greensboro City Council member and former Greensboro mayor.
Walker acknowledged Thursday that his Facebook post wasn’t as articulate as it could have been.

In his post Walker said there are exceptions to African American parents who don't raise their children to fit the right-wing model and he cited the mother of reactionary icon Ben Carson. So generous of Walker! As Howard Chubbs, pastor of the Greensboro's Providence Baptist Church pointed out, "Walker has no concept of our community." On his campaign website, Walker makes it clear that he's running for Congress because he thinks government needs to dictate a right-wing political agenda to families. It isn't any different from the platform Nazis ran on in German in the 1930s: "The breakdown of the American family is a tragic result of a systematic moral devastation. This travesty, created by our government, translates into many other problematic areas within our culture." The primary difference was that the Nazis' main target was the Jews; Walker's is African-Americans.

Fjeld will debate Walker on Fox-8 (WGHP) on October 29. Even if the DCCC is studiously ignoring the race, it's important to remember that Democrats hold a registration advantage in NC-06 and that Kay Hagen won the district in 2008. With someone as extreme as Walker in the race, advocating profoundly unAmerican ideas and a kind of right-wing radicalism that even scares many Republicans, this is a district a vaguely competent DCCC would have on the top of its target list. Alas, that isn't the case this cycle. Maybe Fjeld can do it on her own.

One of the sharpest political minds in the area belongs to Danielle Adams, a young progressive who was elected Durham County Soil & Water District Supervisor. I know Danielle from the People for the American Way's Young Elected Officials network. She's very much in touch with the deep agricultural roots that so many of the voters in NC-06 have and I asked her about Walker's diatribe on Facebook. This is what she told me a few hours ago:

Mr. Walker's post shows not only a lack of understanding of the communities around him but a severe lack of judgement and a very deep level of social and political ignorance that cannot be tolerated of a candidate seeking to serve in the United States House of Representatives.

He shows a lack of awareness of the government programs that systematically oppressed women and minorities while providing the privileges and comforts he now enjoys.

I take personal offense to his comments as a young black woman whose parents worked hard, went to four year universities and worked sometimes two jobs at a time, to ensure that my brothers and I could enjoy the America promised to us.

My parents, and their parents, and the previous generations of strong black and brown parents who served in our military, fought in American wars, worked as teachers, domestic workers, farmers and slaves, took enormous pride and joy in not only investing in, but sacrificing for their children. I am the product of that.

Saying that the entitlement programs of the 60s, to black and brown people have taught us "...to believe that the federal government is designed to provide for every aspect, need or want, of their lives" is one of the biggest falsehoods out there. It is incumbent on any person running for office in our nation to understand the history of entitlements before making egregious blanket judgement on the constituents they purport to want serve. Mr. Walker could use an education based in reality, not privilege.

That's an authentic 21st Century North Carolina voice. Walker may be using Facebook, but his perspective is straight out of the 18th Century.

Another Entry Into The Race For The Craziest GOP Candidate-- Meet North Carolina Sociopath Mark Walker

One of the most overlooked races in the country, NC-06, had their Republican primary runoff last Tuesday. The Republican establishment favorite, Phil Berger Jr., was expected to win thanks to his money and his Dad’s connections and high name recognition among Republican voters. Instead local teabaggers powered an even crazier candidate to victory.

There are 10 counties in NC-06 but Guilford is the biggest, by far, followed by Rockingham and Alamance. The district was drawn to be safe Republican territory but there is a 6-point Democratic voter registration edge and the beloved incumbent, Howard Coble has been in there since 1984 when he narrowly beating a freshman Democrat by riding Ronald Reagan's formidable coattails. The rematch in '86 was even tighter but Coble won, 72,329 to 72,250... 79 votes! Now ailing and in his eighties, Coble is retiring this next year and November will be the first real test of what that Democratic voter registration edge actually means. Obama only garnered 41% against Romney in 2012 but… you know.

Mark Walker is a Baptist Choral Pastor who won the Republican runoff by promising to vote against John Boehner for Speaker, instead pledging his support for Trey Gowdy.  Walker is an extremist in the mold of Jody Hice or Todd Akin. He was already running a primary against Coble when Coble was taken to the hospital and soon after announced he would retire. Hice and Walker are both are anti-Jesus preachers of bigotry and Hate and both are incredibly extreme-- even for southern Republicans, far more radical than anything to do with conservative. But, like Hice, Walker ran against the privileged son of an Establishment figure-- in Hice's case, the son of ex-Congressman Mac Collins and in Walker's case, the son of the widely despised Art Pope puppet, Phil Berger, Sr., President pro tempore of the North Carolina state Senate. Right-wing populists have the sense to know the GOP Establishment is no friend of any ordinary Americans, even if they can't figure out that fascism is not the answer.

Walker is not just anti-choice, but believes women who are the victims of rape or incest should be forced by the government to give birth to the child of her rapist. Walker wants to defund Planned Parenthood, and enthusiastically supports a so-called personhood amendment to the constitution, which would ban common forms of birth control. Everything about him reeks of statism and Big Government interfering in the private lives of regular working families.

Walker has called for what he called “radical change in our current tax code,” and expressed support for combining a "fair" and flat tax, which would be one of the most regressive tax proposals currently in Congress, something that would work really well for the wealthy and shift more of the burden onto the backs of working families, while defunding government functions that underpin a modern post-agrarian society. He opposes the raising the minimum wage, and even questioned the justification the existence of a minimum wage at all.   Walker is another climate change denier steeped in profound ignorance and calling the science behind it "contested." He has called for cutting billions from the Department of Education, and even supported raising the social security age to 70. Art Pope may have supported Berger Jr., but he'll have no problem with Walker if Walker wins in November.

Voters in north-central North Carolina have a better option, and a strong Democratic candidate running for the seat, in Laura Fjeld.  She supports marriage equality, women's right to choice, and she is a passionate spokesperson for protecting and strengthening public education, her top issue:

As a mother and the daughter of two public school teachers, I know that a strong public education system is vital to expanding North Carolina’s economy in a way that will be sustainable over time. From high school, to community colleges to our world-class university system, which I was privileged and proud to serve for years, our schools are training the citizens and work force of the future for jobs that might not even exist yet. 

• Instead of prioritizing the education of our youth and our strong future, the majority administration in Raleigh has done great harm to our students, teachers and parents with drastic cuts that have increased class sizes, cut the number of teachers and teachers’ assistants, and cut pay for public school teachers. This is bad for business, communities, and all North Carolinians, and I will fight against any strategy in Washington that would weaken our public education system in North Carolina.
• Congress should prioritize the education of our nation’s children so that they are prepared for the 21st century, global economy. Congress should provide leadership and support for local school boards, teachers, parents, and students instead of instituting national tests that limit our children’s potential by wasting time and energy on test preparation. We need to support programs that will reward innovation and creativity and allow students to develop problem-solving skills necessary for success

As of the June 30 FEC deadline she had raised $581,598 with an average contribution of under $300, and had $120,363 cash-on-hand. Walker raised $325,262 and spent almost all of it battled Berger and only had $22,671 left in his kitty. Fjeld took it right to Walker on primary night, and assures her supporters she won’t be afraid to call him out on his extremism and his radical positions. It really does look like North Carolina voters can stop an unhinged extremist in Mark Walker. This is a tough district for Democrats (R+10), but Kay Hagan won the district in 2008. Its a good jumping off point to keep another Tea Party crackpot out of Congress.