Heading into Nathan Deal’s election for governor in 2010, a video surfaced of the soon-to-be governor defending “complaints from ghetto grandmothers.” He also sent a letter to the White House questioning whether Barack Obama had a birth certificate. And while speaking to a Tea Party meeting he said, “we fought against the extension of the Voting Rights Act.”
And through all that, Qiana Keith strongly stood by Deal’s side and defended him from charges of racism.
On Tuesday, Keith sued the Georgia Republican Party. She claims she was discriminated against because she is black.
The Hall County Republican says in her federal lawsuit that she overheard co-workers refer to her as the “house n-----,” made her park in the furthest parking space and generally humiliated her at GOP events and at the GOP headquarters.
Back in 2010, Keith did not work for the Georgia GOP. But she strongly and passionately defended Deal in public against charges of racism.
Why did she stand up to her African-American friends and defend Deal from charges of racism?
For one, she had a felony conviction and a few Republican friends, including conservative talk radio host Martha Zoller, gave her a second chance.
At the time, she explained on Facebook that Deal had personally helped her husband with “veterans issues” and said that Deal spoke “for me when I owed a debt to society and was in turn denied on occasion the chance to provide a life for myself and my family because of my pas(t) choices.”
As for the “ghetto grandmothers” comment from Deal, she said, “I did not find that particular incident offensive.”
During the same election, Deal spoke to a Tea Party group and told them to “remember that I fought the voting rights act.”
Qiana Keith also defended the future governor’s position on this issue and his position on Georgia’s rigorous Voter ID laws.
“I am not saying my mother is ghetto … she owns her own home and all that … but if she could not prove her citizenship in 2010 then well that’s on us. This is not 1958 anymore when a dark skinned mother is questioned about who the very fair skinned child she is carrying in her arms belongs to.”
At the end of the Facebook stream of comments, one of Keith’s friends said, “WOW Black republican … so sad … he could care less about you and don’t want you to have the right to vote (in his own words) but to each her own.”
Defending Nathan Deal against charges of racism was not an easy position for Keith to take in 2010. It couldn’t have been done lightly.
And this brings us to an important question today: Qiana Keith defended Nathan Deal against racism charges. Will Nathan Deal now support Qiana Keith?
Keith may continue to defend Deal to this day. We simply don’t know.
But what we do know is that Gov. Deal continues to be silent about serious charges of racism within his own party that have been brought forward by a constituent, a one-time ally and friend, who has long defended him.
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