Dale Charles, NAACP Arkansas President, Says "Electable" Code Word for Racism

Dale Charles, NAACP Arkansas chapter president, says "electable" is a code word for racism in Congressional race between Robbie Wills and Joyce Elliott.

Dale Charles, president of the NAACP's Arkansas chapter, claims he sees the use of the word "electability" as a "code word for racism," in light of the fact that the state has a significant black population but only white representation in Congress. According to CQ Politics, Charles argument is that the second place finisher in Arkansas' 2nd district, state House Speaker Robbie Wills, has been promoting himself as a Democrat who's electable beyond the party base and more electable than state Senate Majority Leader Joyce Elliott. The problem for Charles is that Wills, who is white, won 28 percent of the vote on May 18 and Joyce, who is black, won just under 40 percent of the vote, which was not enough to win the nomination without having a runoff, scheduled for June 8. Er, since when is the word "electable" racist? Doesn't Robbie Wills have a right to say he is more electable based on the issues?

“To say that she’s not electable that’s a code word for racism,” Dale Charles, president of Arkansas chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said in an interview. “She came out on top in a field of five in the primary ... Why all the sudden does the word electability come up?”

In the Little Rock-based 2nd district, just under one in five voters is black, giving it the second largest black population in the state behind the sprawling 4th district to the south. If she wins her primary and goes on to win the general election Elliott would become the first black U.S. House representative from Arkansas.

Charles said in a Tuesday interview that he believes that Wills and his supporters are using the fact that a black candidate has never been elected to Congress in Arkansas as a reason for saying that it can’t happen this time. Wills’ response was that he never has and never would inject race into his campaign. “The way that I have always put it is that I give the party the best chance of keeping this seat and that is a factor of a number of things,” Wills said. Source 

I have been very critical of the hogwash emanating from some chapters of the NAACP, but this is a new low. It seems that Mr. Charles has a chip on his shoulder if he thinks the word "electable" is a code word for racism. The reality is that candidates for office do use that word but from a position of magnifying their qualifications and their view of the personification of those qualities to what the voter is looking for in a candidate. Why do some elements in the black community have to constantly interject the issue of race in every debate? This is wrong on so many levels.