If you tuned in to the Lawsonry liveblog of the first day of the Republican National Convention last night, you know that one of the themes of the convention (besides President Obama’s “you didn’t build it” speech on loop) was white people. As much as the Republican party tried to present itself as more progressive with a token black speaker, there was much to be desired in terms of diversity. This became even more obvious after two attendees threw peanuts at a black camerawoman working for CNN and said, “This is how we feed the animals.”

CNN confirmed that the incident happened but declined to comment on the matter. The network also made no mention of the occurrence on-air. Convention organizers ejected both of the attendees and issued a statement condemning the actions of the attendees: “Two attendees tonight exhibited deplorable behavior. Their conduct was inexcusable and unacceptable. This kind of behavior will not be tolerated.”

This  episode should clear up any doubts as to why Mitt Romney currently has zero percent of the black vote. Though this was the action of two individuals, it certainly reflects the attitude displayed by the party as a whole. Anyone who is not white is “the other,” not American, and certainly not representative of Republicans. It was only a matter of time before the racist rhetoric used against President Obama seeped into Republican voters’ brains. For instance, Romney recently tried to resurrect the rumor that President Obama was not born in the United States, stating “no one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate, people know I’m from Michigan.” I wonder when the Republican party is going to wake up from their fantasy of a post-racial society. 

Probably not until they stop listening to President Obama’s out-of-context comments on a loop.