Tennessee Lawmaker Lady Named Butt Not Racist, Just Loves White People

Gather round, little children, your Tennessee Wonkette has a nice story for you! It is about one of our august state representatives, a gentlelady by the name of Sheila Butt, who once said there would be no global warming if we used more hairspray, but this is not about that. This is about the fact that Sheila is Not Racist. Everybody is being mean to her and saying she is racist, though, because she went on the Facebook recently to comment on a nice note from the Council on American-Islamic Relations encouraging Republicans to stop hating Muslims so much. Butt said what we REALLY NEED is a "Council on Christian Relations" and a "NAAWP," which some dumb liberal media types are dumbly and liberally assuming might stand for National Association For The Advancement Of White People, but they are wrong.

NOT RACIST, Rep. Butt can explain.

The Republican floor leader posted the comment on Jan. 27 on the Facebook page of Cathy Hinners, who operates Daily Roll Call, a website critical of Muslims in America and specifically in Tennessee. The comment, obtained by Pith, was deleted and later replaced with, “We need groups that will stand for Christians and our Western culture. We don’t have groups dedicated to speaking on our behalf.”

[...]

Butt, a tea party-leaning Republican from Columbia who was newly elected as floor leader, repeatedly refused to explain to Pith what she meant by the comment and the meaning of NAAWP. She said only that reading the acronym as the National Association for the Advancement of White people is “totally misinterpreted.”

“I think that’s funny because that isn’t even what that’s supposed to be. You’re making a story out of nothing,” said Butt, who then refused to explain what she meant by the comment. “Oh, I know exactly what it is, but it’s not what you say it is.”

“I’ll let people decide,” she said.

Oh, just kidding, Rep. Butt will not explain, she knows exactly what word she meant the "W" to stand for, but she is not telling, and she will let the people decide! So what do YOU think the "W" stands for, Wonketariat? Butt deleted the comment later anyway, no harm no foul, replacing it with the thing about how Christians and Western Culture have NO GROUPS who will stand up for them. Now, you might counter, "Hey Rep. Butt, isn't this kind of like when racists say we need a white history month, and then sane people remind them that ALL THE MONTHS are white history month?" But no, you are wrong, Butt is a good Christian, let her explain again :

“It saddens me that we have come to a place in our society where every comment by a conservative is automatically scrutinized as being racist. Instead of realizing my post was actually about making sure that every race, religion, gender, and culture has a seat at the table, liberal groups have once again incorrectly and falsely jumped the gun. It seems to me that if we could take the focus off of race, as I am convinced the Lord does, we could better solve the problems in our state and nation that face every single one of us.”

Yes, the world is a terrible place, when conservatives can't hurl around racial slurs during drunk Facebook time without being accused of racism. CAIR is predictably annoyed by all this and is asking all the Tennessee Republicans to condemn the Butt. To their credit, they are not really defending her, so here's to you, Tennessee Republicans, you managed to get one single gold sticker, don't lick it too hard:

CAIR called the comment racist, saying the NAAWP term has been used by several white supremacist organizations in the past. Former Ku Klux Klan member David Duke at one time headed a group called the NAAWP.

She didn't know! She probably didn't even know that there was also something called the NAACP either, because again, if you are a Republican Who Doesn't See Race, you can't even SEE the NAACP. Like, they could be right in front of her, and she would not see them. She made up "NAAWP" by herself, in her own Butt Brain, and she is grieved that you misinterpreted her so badly.

In case you are going to be difficult about this, Steve Cavendish of the Nashville Scene points out that Butt has actually offered several MORE explanations, if the ones typed above don't satisfy you. Like this one, this one will totally convince you:

"I came from Rockford, Ill., so racism was never part of my culture, never has been part of my culture," she said.

NO RACISM IN ROCKFORD. Cavendish points out that Rockford, Illinois, has a chapter of the KKK, but, duh, it probably doesn't stand for what you think it does either, it stands for Krazy Knitting Klub, and they meet on Wednesday nights. You should see the neat hoods they just finished making, they are like SO WARM.

Anyway, Cavendish helps us out with the needed context, proving once and for all that Sheila is not racist, by pointing us to Butt's work as the author of a Jesus book for girls called  Everyday Princess: Daughter Of The King . It is a very nice book with four whole reviews on Amazon, and in it Butt discusses interracial dating:

Will dating someone of another race be helpful or beneficial? Understanding that you will eventually marry someone that you date, will you be just as happy for your children to grow up biracial? I have seen instances when a young lady started dating someone of another race, and there were those of her own race who were not interested in dating her after that. There will always be those who look at the race of the person a young lady dates rather then the character of the person.

Ha ha ha, if you date a person of another race, not that you can see race in the first place, will you be okay with having dark children, not that there is anything wrong with that? Or aren't you worried thatifwhen you break up, other racists won't want to fuck you anymore? Oh, Sheila Butt, you are a gem and Wonkette will be extra sure to pay closer attention to you in the future.

[ Nashville Scene / WKRN-TV ]