This week, the NFL – executives, owners and players – sent a message to blatant racism when the group planning to bid on the St. Louis Rams was forced to drop Rush Limbaugh.  The message is loud and clear: we do not want to be associated with people who have gone on record with racists remarks.  I would have thought that the almighty dollar would buy Rush a seat at the owners table, but morals won out.  I would like to clap to that.

The Nobel Peace Prize debacle forced me to cement my opinion about how people are treating President Obama and this situation will cement my position on race matters – this is something that I think flushes real feelings out.  How can people, people who claim to not be racist, support (listen to on at least a semi-regular basis) someone who is?

Here are some of Rush’s past low-lights (number 5 was obviously before November 2008):

1. “I mean, let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back; I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark.”
2. “You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray [the confessed assassin of Martin Luther King]. We miss you, James. Godspeed.”
3. “Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it.”
4. “I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well.  They’re interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well.  I think there’s a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn’t deserve.”
5. Limbaugh attacks on Obama. Limbaugh has called Obama a ‘halfrican American’ has said that Obama was not black but Arab because Kenya is an Arab region, even though Arabs are less than one percent of Kenya. Since mainstream America has become more accepting of African-Americans, Limbaugh has decided to play against its new racial fears, Arabs and Muslims. Despite the fact Obama graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law school, Limbaugh has called him an ‘affirmative action candidate.’ Limbaugh even has repeatedly played a song on his radio show ‘Barack the Magic Negro’ using an antiquated Jim Crow era term for black a man who many Americans are supporting for president. Way to go Rush.

All of this is coming from someone who was part of a group prepared to bid on an NFL team – a league that is 78% black.  The first thought that comes to mind is that he wanted to become a modern day slave owner…in his mind anyway!

According to Limbaugh, him being forced out of the potential ownership group was “Obama’s America on full display” and called DeMarcus Smith, executive director of the NFLPA and an “Obama-ite.”  He called Sharpton and Jackson “race hustlers,” following the group’s decision to drop him.  He also said his sacking was an example of the political clout wielded by President Barack Obama’s administration.

Speaking of Al Sharpton (I’m not really a fan), here is what the good Reverand had to say: “It’s remarkable in that he was denied by other powerful whites.  At the end of the day, his own peers said, ‘You are a liability.’  Even the rich and powerful do not want to be identified with racism.”  That, is the most profound thing I’ve ever heard Sharpton say.

It gets better; the following is a comment from someone who responded to the story on ESPN.com: “Too funny, another millionaire victim. Sorry rush, you may be entertaining to millions but that doesn’t mean the other millionaires want to have you too close to their business, or them for that matter.
And of course it’s somehow Obama’s fault. So much for that personal responsibility you expect everyone else to have, just not yourself.”

Before someone comes to Limbaugh’s defense, read this quote from another commenter: “Isn’t this actually an example of capitalism and free speech??? Something that Rush claims to support? Rush has to realize that his actions and comments garner strong opinions about him. Yet he acts all surprised as if socialism or Black America took him down or something. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.”

This is the direction we need to go in to have a united America.  People like Limbaugh are the type President Obama wants to get rid of and that is why he won the Nobel Peace Prize.  I think it is hilarious that Limbaugh even reached to the White House to include Obama in this, but that is what I expect for someone who is on record as a racist.

There is a line in a popular song by R&B singer Rihanna that is appropriate for this situation: “How bout a round of applause, a standing ovation.”  Bravo NFL!