Ivy League White Guy Attacks Black Woman for Not Doing as She is Told
That’s the headline that would have been written in the in the main stream media if State Senator Josh McLaurin (D – Sandy Springs) was a Republican. But he is a Democrat Senator who has a strong social media game and graduated from Yale Law School (How do you know if a Yale Law School grad walks into a bar?), so he gets a pass
Now it might seem like I am attacking the Senator for his educational prowess, but that’s not the case. We need smart people in the legislature regardless of their ideology. And so there certainly is a need in the General Assembly for some one like Josh McLaurin who has been a student of the law at the highest levels. The problem is that with his elevated education he has an insatiable need to talk down to everyone else. It’s as if by ascending so high academically that all of us ordinary people are now so far below him he has to make great effort to let the rest of us know about his intellectual superiority.
Seriously, he oozes condescension. More on that later.
Meet State Representative Mesha Mainor. A glance at her campaign website and you will see a progressive Democrat who has focused her legislative priorities on suicide prevention, mental health, and of course environmental issues. Raised in poverty, she rose to become a Howard University grad and former staffer for Congressman John Lewis. She is no Manchurian Republican plant.
What she is, though, is someone who has decided to put her oath of office, in which each member affirms they will do what they believe is the right thing for the state of Georgia, over what her party and people like Senator McLaurin think she ought to do. And it was in keeping with that oath that Rep. Mainor cast a vote in favor a school choice bill that she believes would benefit black children stuck in failing schools.
In a fit of Ivy League indignation coupled with the forementioned condescension, McLaurin took to Twitter over the weekend to begin recruiting a primary challenger for Representative Mainor, going so far as to write a check for $1000 and a blank Pay To The Order Of line.
Lest you think our headline for this article is clickbaitish, we are not the only ones who noticed it was a white dude attacking the black woman over on the left. We reached out to Rep. Mainor, and her first response? “We have reached a point when white male Democrats are putting bounties on black female Democrats, and that’s a sad moment,” Mainor told us. “And because of what? Because we want to help poor black children get a second chance at education? We have a problem educating poor black children in poverty. This has been going on for 50 years, enough is enough.”
The facts do appear to be on her side, as school choice is extraordinarily popular among the African American Community, routinely polling with 75% support. Sometimes above 85%.
Mainor also told us that McLaurin would not be alone in his effort to oust her in a primary, estimating roughly 10 elected members of her own party would be in on the fatwa. She did mention that long time members of her own caucus have reached out to tell her that while they disagreed with her vote, they opposed the effort to take her out.
In that tweet thread, McLaurin points to Republicans supporting Mainor to back up his call for her primary challenge. And Republicans do appear to be supporting her with more than just tweets, as Senator Greg Dolezal (R – Cumming), the author of SB 233, sent her $3000 over the weekend. We asked Rep. Mainor if that would help or hurt her and she responded by saying, “I will need the help of all Georgians if I am going to be able to advocate for the education of black children.”
For her part, Rep Mainor expressed gratitude for the attention that Senator McLaurin has directed at her, saying “I hope [school choice in the African American community] becomes a national discussion.” And she is not sitting still either, publishing an op-ed with more of her perspective on the Georgia House Website.
And while we are certain that Senator McLaurin will point to this post on a right-leaning blog as further proof that Rep Mainor needs to go, we hope there is one additional side benefit in all of this; that Senator McLaurin recognizes that his mansplaining/grandstanding is having a blowback effect. That perhaps a small amount of humility may serve him better than his JD from Yale.
And while we need intellectuals like Josh McLaurin in the General Assembly, we also need those who possess the bravery of Mesha Mainor, regardless of the political ideology of either.
