GOP Officials Convene at Former Plantation to Plan Minority Outreach

Our latest for EBONY: Plantation politics? The House Republican Conference decided to hold their annual retreat on the grounds of a former slave plantation.

The room is named after the Burwell Family, a wealthy family that owned many slaves in 18th century Southern Virginia.

But an “issue in optics”—that’s Beltway speak for “poor visuals” or being tone deaf— around race relations have always being a problem for the contemporary GOP. Actually … you could say it’s their specialty. The vilification of Latinos and undocumented workers. The voter ID campaign aimed at suppressing minority votes. Fraudulent claims around Black voters breaking election laws. And the hundreds of incidents of racist rhetoric, signs and protests (un)officially sanctioned by the GOP. So many more to choose from.

Read the op-ed HERE.