The Associated Press
September 28, 2005
White GOP lawmaker compares Tennessee black lawmakers to the KKK
By Matt Gouras
NASHVILLE — A white Republican lawmaker who was not allowed to join a black legislative group compared the group to the Ku Klux Klan for excluding him based on race.
Rep. Stacey Campfield, a freshman lawmaker from Knoxville, said the KKK “has less racist bylaws” than the black lawmakers’ group. “My understanding is that the KKK doesn’t even ban members by race,” Campfield told the Associated Press on Tuesday.
“Some people believe in separation, I guess, separation of the races,” Campfield said.
Rep. Larry Miller, a Memphis Democrat who is a member of the black legislative group, said no white lawmaker has ever asked to join the Tennessee Black Caucus. He said the group might consider admitting a white lawmaker - just not Campfield.
“He is using this as a joke. This is an insult coming from him,” Miller said. “Why he chose to focus on the Black Caucus, I have no idea other than he is crazy and a racist.”
Campfield posted a message on his Web journal, or blog, last week about his unsuccessful attempt to join the black lawmakers’ group.
He defended himself Saturday by posting, under the heading “I too dream,” long excerpts from the Rev. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. That’s the famous 1963 speech in which King dreams of a day when his children “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
This use of King’s speech infuriated some readers, and Campfield announced Monday that he was banning reader-posted comments on his blog after threats poured in.
“People just started going crazy about it,” Campfield said.
Before the posts were deleted from the Web site, anonymous writers were calling Campfield a racist for twisting King’s speech. Others noted that King wasn’t arguing against black-only groups.
Campfield said some of the posts, which he didn’t detail, went way over the line. He said some included death threats.
“It got pretty brutal,” he said.
Experts on race and hate groups said Campfield hit a nerve when he used King’s words to take on a black institution. It’s the same tactic white separatists often use, said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“Very typically these days we see white supremacists, hate groups, trying to use the words of King and other civil rights leaders to try to advance their agendas,” Potok said. “It does not surprise me at all that people reacted angrily.”
Potok, who said he has no idea if Campfield is a racist, said it was absurd for Campfield to want to join the black lawmakers’ group.
“Rep. Campfield’s ancestors were never in chains. He and his ancestors knew nothing of slavery,” Potok said. “Black legislators typically band together to protect the interests of people who are being rolled over.”
Campfield was immediately rebuffed earlier this year when he asked the chairman of the Black Caucus for the group’s bylaws and inquired about joining.
Another Memphis Democrat, Rep. Johnny Shaw, dismissed Campfield’s request and called him a “strange guy” who was simply interested in stirring up trouble.
The 37-year-old first-time legislator, whose conservative Web blog has derided gay adoption and abortion, has been in the news more than most freshman lawmakers.
After he used the blog to publicly bash Democratic leadership earlier this year, he quickly found the bills he was sponsoring shuttled to legislative purgatory.
Although Campfield said he still believes the blog is a good idea, it will now carry only his posts, along with a little biographical information - such as his interests in judo and karate, and a listing of the Bible as his favorite book.
State Democratic Party spokesman Will Pinkston called Campfield a disgrace to the Republican Party.
“The bottom line with Stacey Campfield is that he this bizarre character who really enjoys being at the center of attention. He’s got a complex that he just has to have a lot of attention and he knows how to get it.”
Despite the angry response, Campfield still thinks the Black Caucus is wrong.
“I definitely think they should allow white people in as members,” Campfield said. “If we work together we might be able to pull things off and get things done.”
