A gun control group is petitioning the National Rifle Association (NRA) to remove rocker Ted Nugent from its board of directors after he wrote an uttered a string of racially inflammatory comments about the killing of Trayvon Martin.
Nugent’s seeming focus on fanning racial tensions did not sit very well with The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV), an umbrella group comprised of 47 individual organizations across the country working to promote gun control laws.
“The NRA likes to bill itself as the ‘oldest civil rights organization in the United States,’” they explained in a petition published Wednesday. “If they want to wear that mantle it’s time for them to walk the walk and end their relationship with Ted Nugent immediately.”
Speaking to Raw Story, CSGV Communications Director Ladd Everitt said the petition had over 1,600 signatures as of Thursday morning. “For us, the impetus for this was that we all felt that Nugent was going into, even for himself, new and darker territory with [his rhetoric],” Everitt said. “This constant stream of quotes has been just so overtly racist, it really calls into question why [the NRA] allows this man to sit on their board.”
Nugent has been on a tirade about race in America since George Zimmerman was acquitted for killing Martin, notably calling the dead 17-year-old boy a “dope smoking, racist gangsta wannabe” in a column for the conservative blog Rare, and a “gangsta wanabe, Skittles hoodie boy” in a separate piece for conservative conspiracy website World Net Daily.
Nugent also spoke to Internet conspiracy radio host Alex Jones on July 16, just two days before his WND column was published, claiming that racism against African-Americans is actually a “dirty lie” and accusing “black mobs” of “the worst racism since the Klan.”
“The blacks have bought into this lie that somehow they’re oppressed when the president is black, the attorney general is black, governors are black, senators are black, congressmen are black, mayors are black, Oprah Winfrey, the richest people in the world are black,” he insisted. “It is a dirty lie.”
Nugent went on to blame Rev. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Attorney General Eric Holder for inflicting a “curse” upon black people that’s left them in “self-inflicted shackles.”
“I would like to reach out to black America and tell them to absolutely reject the lie of Al ‘Not So’ Sharpton, and Jesse Jackson, and the Black Panthers and Eric Holder and Barack Obama,” he told Jones. “They are enslaving you and the real shackles on black America, 100 percent of the time come from black America.”
He’s since announced plans to “boycott” the city of Chicago over its gun control laws, in response to legendary black musician Stevie Wonder’s announcement that he will no longer perform in states with “Stand Your Ground” laws. Speaking to a right-wing radio host this week, Nugent said Wonder must be brain-damaged and that his boycott is inspired by a lifetime of drug abuse.
Of course, this whole effort begs the question: What good will a petition do? After all, it’s not like CSGV has the NRA’s ear, but Everitt seemed to think otherwise.
“A lot of [our members]… are saying, ‘Why would I want to do something to help the NRA?’” he explained. “A lot of them are totally fed up with the NRA and view Nugent as something useful to us, a man who is more likely to bring the organization down quickly… But I told them kind of jokingly, ‘If your goal is to keep Ted on the board, maybe a petition from a gun control group is a good way to do that.’”
An NRA spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
By Stephen C. Webster/rawstory
Posted by The NON-Conformist
TheConfirmationFiles 
Ted Nugent called Trayvon Martin a “dope smoking, racist gangsta wannabe”?
THC was found in Martin during the autopsy. He was smoking dope – that is beyond dispute.
Martin’s girlfriend on the phone with him the night he died said they thought Zimmerman was a “creepy ass cracka”? Sounds pretty racist to me.
So is Ted Nugent a “racist” for saying something that is demonstratably 100% true?
Thanks for reading The Confirmation Files, we usually don’t respond but this time is a little different. Do you think Ted Nugent is different than the people he mentioned? I would tell you to read about history and how it pertains to today. First, I’m not an apologist for the black community, no one is or can be. Ted is fanning the flames to gen up his base. So he wants to mention that Trayvon was a “dope smoking, racist gangsta wannabe”, what exactly is his point. He dodged the draft by popping in his pants “I was a walking, talking hunk of human s–t. I made gutter swine hippies look like football players.”and nine children from seven women. Here’s one for good measure:He had a relationship with a 17-year old Hawaiian girl when he was 30. He became her legal guardian in order to comply with laws regarding relationships with minors. So a kid walking in a neighborhood where he belonged, was not approached by Sir George as to who he was, is now dead. Pick another hero, to quote. If you want to have a real conversation, that’s fine. If you want to talk about crime, black on black crime, we can. What Ted said wasn’t true, white college kids smoke weed overwhelmingly, so do black kids. It’s all about perception, if you point out the other side of the scale “75% of the rampage killings on US record were perpetrated by white males, as were 71% of massacres in schools, and 60% of workplace rampages – a seriously disproportionate number for the number of white males that make up the general population”, and what about corporate crime the affect you and me that goes unmentioned. There’s so much more that could be said about crime and so on. Again, pick a more moral representative to look up to. Thanks again for stopping by and adding to the debate, also read https://theconfirmationfiles.com/2013/07/24/why-the-phrase-black-on-black-crime-suggests-inherent-criminality/
Quoting:
“I would like to reach out to black America and tell them to absolutely reject the lie of Al ‘Not So’ Sharpton, and Jesse Jackson, and the Black Panthers and Eric Holder and Barack Obama,” he told Jones. “They are enslaving you and the real shackles on black America, 100 percent of the time come from black America.”
End quote:
I don’t see how a rational person could disagree with the above. To quote a famous black preacher in Chicago – Obama’s former minister – “The chickens have come home to roost!”
I saw Dr. Martin Luther King deliver his “I Have A Dream Speech” live on a black and white TV. Back then white racism was a serious problem. Today I am beginning to think that black racism is now a much bigger problem.
Many blacks worship the ground Dr. King walked upon, but have betrayed almost every principle he stood for in life – love, forgiveness, and reconciliation. That particularly applies to Jesse Jackson who marched with Dr. King.
lwk
free2beinamerica2.wordpress.com
You wrote:
“So [Ted Nugent] wants to mention that Trayvon was a “dope smoking, racist gangsta wannabe”, what exactly is his point.”
I think he intended to counter the media created image of Trayvon as an innocent little boy as depicted in the very commonly used picture of him at 14 in a hoodie. I think he is referring to info from Trayvon’s Facebook page (since taken down) and Trayvon’s phone.
From those sources we get a picture of a kid who is into Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighting and is bragging about it. He talks about a kid he fought whom he wants to fight again because the first time “he didn’t bleed enough.” Trayvon was caught in school with stolen women’s jewely in his backpack and a sharpened screwdriver that was described as a burglary tool.
From the above there was also evidence that Trayvon was getting into a street drug called “lean” or “syrup” and two of the ingredients he bought the night he died were part of one recipe for a version of that street drug. The drug can cause paranoia and aggression.
In summary there are indicators that Trayvon was in fact a kid wanting to become a “gangsta” and into fighting. Did I mention that on his phone was evidence he was looking to buy a gun?
Rachel Jeantel said that they thought Zimmerman was a “creepy ass cracka” which sounds pretty racist to me. Not unlike a white person calling a black the “N-word.” To Trayvon’s credit I don’t know how much Jeantel said can be believed.
So that was what I am pretty sure Nugent was referring to as “dope smoking, racist gangsta wannabe.” That sums up a lot of info in a few terse words.
Does that mean he was a hopeless black kid? I don’t know. I know that my own son flirted a little with the “Dark Side” of illegal behavior at about the same age. Fortunately for me he got straightened out and is currently a U.S. Marine.
But I can understand how bad influences can mess up any kid, no matter the color their skin. But if you attack someone and put them in fear for their life then getting killed is a real possibility.
About Ted Nugent and his past I can’t say I know too much. The fact that he was (or still is?) a rock musician is itself a hit against him in my book. Have no idea if I have ever heard any of his music. Certainly I would not recognize it if I heard it.
That said, the question of whether what Ted Nugent said is “racist” should be based on what he said, and not whatever Nugent’s past is. I have read various excerpts and criticism and personally I don’t see him saying anything so far that I don’t generally believe to be true, and not racist. Truth is truth and not racist.
Of course Ted does have a knack to put anything he says in crude and confrontational words. Personally I would have tried slightly less confrontional words, but nevertheless the truth of his words is in the words, not in Nugent’s past, whatever it is.
“if you point out the other side of the scale “75% of the rampage killings on US record were perpetrated by white males, as were 71% of massacres in schools, and 60% of workplace rampages…”
According to 2011 FBI statistics of all homicides in the United States over 50% were committed by blacks where the race of the offender was known.
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/expanded/expanded-homicide-data
Although blacks are 12-13% of the population they commit half the murders.
All the “rampages” you mentioned above are literally a “drop in the bucket” of total homicides. And of course those 50% of murders by blacks are predominantly of other blacks.
Have you ever read anything by Thomas Sowell? He presents a novel theory in his book:
Black Rednecks & White Liberals
Let’s say that Trayvon, maybe with his caution blunted with drugs on the night he died, felt “dissed” by the “creepy ass cracka” watching him and decided (in Jeantel’s words) to do a little “whup ass” on him. That would be classical redneck behavior per Sowell.
Its a good book. He has some really good stats on how well blacks were doing on their own before white liberals decided blacks couldn’t succeed without their help.
I admire Thomas Sowell quite a bit. He is a true intellectual and fearless.
lwk
free2beinamerica2.wordpress.com
My point is, Trayvon may have been a troubled youth, it still doesn’t matter; he’s dead. Sure the media spun the story, I don’t read from media except alternative media, I do watch local media. Again “the nuge” has no credibility, his remarks are ignorant and inflammatory. He spun it in a way of saying he got his just desert. I’m sure if he would have been in the same situation, Zimmerman would be DEAD!
“…Trayvon may have been a troubled youth, it still doesn’t matter; he’s dead.”
I can’t disagree with what you say there. A lot of younger black men, or black youth, get killed all the time in Chicago, Detroit, etc., going down a similar path. More often than not they are killed by each other. And they are all dead.
It is certainly a sad situation, and as I said before, largely a predictable result of bad policies meant to help, but which have acted to destroy the black family, especially in inner cities.
Saw a very good article by Walter E. Williams today:
Black Self-Sabotage
http://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2013/07/31/black-selfsabotage-n1651550
He wrote:
“If we put ourselves into the shoes of racists who seek to sabotage black upward mobility, we couldn’t develop a more effective agenda than that followed by civil rights organizations, black politicians, academics, liberals and the news media.”
Regards,
lwk
free2beinamerica2.wordpress.com