Yesterday, President Obama succeeded in passing some of the most controversial legislation to hit the federal level in recent years. After months of struggling to secure much needed support from Congress, the health care reform bill was passed, resulting in what will soon be known as a new era in American health care – an era where every legal citizen is entitled to federal support in what for many, is a struggle to secure health care.
The Howard community, the African-American community and the community of Democratic Congress members and other representatives might see Obama’s success as terrific, but much like the issue of immigration reform (among other things), the health care reform has some harsh, and seemingly even racist critics.
A report released by Senior Advisor and Assistant Valerie Jarrett to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement says that one in five African Americans are without health care, tend to live in areas where fewer hospitals (and subsequently less access to health care) are attainable and suffer from higher incidence of chronic diseases than our racial counterparts. These facts are an unfortunate reality for not only countless African Americans, but also members of other races.
As shocking as this unfortunate reality might be, what is more shocking is some of the underhanded and negative reaction by Republican opposition to health care reform. As early as last year, Republican representatives have strongly opposed Obama’s health care reform. Last October, John Boehner, House of Representatives Minority Leader, published his personal feelings through his Twitter account, saying “Healthcare is not a right; it’s a privilege for those who earn an honest living. If you gang bang and listen to rap all day, you don’t deserve it.”
In a rally to protest the health care reform by the controversial and heavily conservative Tea Party downtown this weekend, Democratic representatives, including John Lewis of Georgia and Andre Carson of Indiana, were targeted by a group of Tea Party supporters, while entering the Capitol building amid the angry shouts of racial and other disrespectful and explicit slurs. Democratic representative Emanual Cleaver of Missouri was reportedly spat on by a protestor in passing.
Since his Twitter rant, Boehner has issued an informal apology about his controversial tweet, and since the weekend’s events, Tea Party representatives have condemned the disrespectful behavior of the aforementioned health care critics. However, in the face of damage control, the fact still remains that a number of anti-health care reform opposition, composed of a largely conservative, Republican, constituency, are discrediting their views, by moving away from the issue of health care reform and instead of displaying childish and highly disrespectful and extraneous behavior.