Racism: Facebook Style!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 9:00AM 
"Super Genius" Audra ShayFound this originally on Aunt Jemima's Revenge and was forwarded the story from The Daily Beast by an enraged reader. Seems another racist has learned that the internet is not their friend. (You know? If they don't want people to know they're a racist.)
Case in point: Vice Chairman of the Young Republicans Audra Shay and her coon-hatin' thread on Facebook. Let the ig'nance commence!
From The Daily Beast:
On Wednesday, Shay—a 38-year-old Army veteran, mother, and event planner from Louisiana who has been endorsed by her governor, Bobby Jindal—was holding court on her Facebook page, initiating a political conversation by posting that “WalMart just signed a death warrant” by “endorsing Obama’s healthcare plan.” At 1:52, a friend named listed as Eric S. Piker, but whose personal page says his actual name is Eric Pike, wrote “It’s the government making us commies... can’t even smoke in my damn car... whats next they going to issue toilet paper once a month... tell us how to wipe our asses...”
Two minutes later, Piker posted again saying “Obama Bin Lauden [sic] is the new terrorist... Muslim is on there side [sic]... need to take this country back from all of these mad coons... and illegals.”
Eight minutes after that, at 2:02, Shay weighed in on Piker’s comments: “You tell em Eric! lol.”
What's hilarious about this sad piece of ignorance is that Shay, once called on her shit began DELETING said shit-callers as friends. She would later cry that she too was offended by the comment she "You tell em Eric! lol." endorsed.
That's it girl. Just lie. That works sometimes, unless ... someone took a picture of your Facebook thread and has photographic evidence of your racist rooting?
Wait. Could this be it? View the now deleted Facebook exchange here. Never mind.
Shay now claims that she was only responding to Piker’s first comments, not having noticed the second. The eight-minute gap between the second post and her response strains the credibility of this defense.
It didn’t take long for other posters on Shay’s page to do the math. First, Derek Moss wrote “What’s disheartening is the use of the word 'coon' in 2009. Wow... I’m usually outnumbered about 500-to-1 on Audra’s threads so go ahead, lemme have it, I deserve it.” He apparently expected to be criticized as among this crowd for calling out the racist comment.
Cassie Wallender, a national committeewoman from the Washington Young Republican Federation, then wrote: “Someone please help a naïve Seattle girl out, is Eric’s comment a racist slur?” She answered her own question one minute later: “Okay, why is this okay? I just looked it up. ‘It comes from a term baracoons (a cage) where they used to place Africans who were waiting to be sent to America to be slaves.’ THIS IS NOT OKAY AND IT’S NOT FUNNY.”
This was followed soon after by the chairman of the D.C. Young Republicans, Sean L. Conner, who wrote “I’m really saddened that you would support this type of racial language. ..wow! Thanks Cassie for standing up...”
Shay was silent on this exchange, but soon word started spreading throughout the Young Republican circuit, open to GOP members under 40. Significantly, Shay then “de-friended” Wallender and Conner—in the world of Facebook, that means cutting off relations—after calling her out, but kept Piker as a “friend” (subsequently, it appears their profiles are no longer linked).
Classy! Or KKKlassy one should say. I'm happy to know that in Shay's narrow, ignorant world there were folks willing to call her out for what this was -- racist, uncouth behavior. Too often ignorance is allowed to fester because friends let friends be bigots. Well, Wallender and Conner didn't and they got defriended. Good for them. Their "friend" sounds like a total asshat. Or in Shay's case, shasshat, which is like an asshat -- only shittier.
Oh, and Audra? THE INTERNET IS NOT YOUR FRIEND! You should "de-friend" it, starting now.
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Reader Comments (40)
when will people learn that NOTHING is private on the internet? and i'm not sure if i'm more irritated by the blatant racism or the fact that people who hold such views are consistently allowed to advance to leadership posts. this is pitiful all the way around.
Perez Hilton is way worse.
Wow, I can't say that I am surprised. The GOP is just winning everyone over. Good job. Keep it up.
It seems to me that Shay is attempting to clean up her little mess b/c after reading the exchange, I as a woman of color felt like she was agreeing with Pike. I know sometimes you can respond while the other person is posting but due to the large gap in time, I know she had to have seen his second comment using the term "coon" before posting her last response.
I read about this yesterday. Totally sick stuff. I noticed one of Shay's FB friends appears to be a person of color. It wouldn't surprise me if he's a token, a beard to hide her racism.
I checked the time of the exchanges and she may have been referring to the earlier comment. In that case, I'll cut her some slack.
Wow. Just... wow. Unbelievable.
but then again, this is coming from the same group of people who take issue with "illegals" who want nothing more than the opportunity to have a decent job and living situation, forgetting that their ancestors stole an entire country in the name of religious freedom. shasshat indeed.
black folks refer to BET as nothing but "coonage" and a bunch of "cooning" so why wouldn't white folk expect to use it? Is this word like nigga--only blacks can use it?
Although I am against racism and bigotry at every turn... are we over-reacting a bit here? This is circumstantial evidence at best, blind shit-throwing at worst. I agree the evidence presented is suspect, but not enough to condemn her of being a racist, or of being completely out of touch with society. I think this Eric Piker character absolutely needs to be acosted and taught that this is completely inappropriate behavior. Audra, on the other hand, deserves a wrist slap and an affirmation that supporting that behavior is the wrong way to go. I think it warrants some scrutiny for her future actions, but let's not condemn her as a witch just yet.
Eight minutes is a lifetime on the Internet. So she does not get any slack from me. There was plenty of time to read the second comment.
And if she was so offended by Piker's comments why didn't de-friend his sorry ass instead of the people who put her on blast about this steaming pile of shit?
Even if she was pissed at Cassie Wallender and Sean L. Conner and blocked them from her Facebook page in the heat of the moment, the more prudent thing to do if you were trying to cover your tracks would be to de-friend Piker also.
Damn, this is their best and brightest?
Sorry, "why didn't she de-friend his sorry ass"
Well, the black folks are using it disparagingly in disapproval of the BET's actions, and as the BET is operating, ostensibly, on behalf of black folks, yes, they have a right to use a negative term to describe negative behavior -- behavior which can be changed. Whereas these non-black people here are using the term to describe all black people, by the simple fact of their being black and existing. So you're drawing an overgeneralized and extremely false equivalence there, The Uppity. Context matters.
There are more issues here than the use of the word coon.
1. The POTUS is not a terrorist and should not be labeled as one.
2. "Muslim is on there side" First of all Muslim refers to a person, Islam is the religion and this was said as though being associated with either is some type of insult.
3. "Need to take this country back from all of these mad coons...and illegals" Since he never specified which coons he was referring to, one can reasonably assume he was either speaking of all black people or all black people who support President Obama. I don't think either group is deserving of the label "coon." As far as the illegals are concerned, I threw in my .02 about that a few comments up.
Allheavens, you raised another valid point. I changed my mind again. Burn that witch to the stake!
Eight minutes is not a lifetime on the internet when you have a job, people! I'm lucky to get 8 minutes on the internet a day while at work!
Whoever wrote this article originally was just looking for some way to bash the GOP, in any way possible no matter what the cost. He found a small pitiance of a semi-news-worthy issue, and tried to blow it to momentous proportions. Read the article again; this is not un-biased journalism. There was a specific intent here. The article-writer's intent here should also be taken into account. (S)he wasn't trying to report the news, (s)he was trying to attack a group of people. And although this group of people aren't a specific race, gender, or creed, is it not also a degree of bigotry to attack a group of people for no other reason than because you don't agree with them? If you don't agree, use your words to create credible thought-out arguements. Don't just pick at the bones of incredulity.
Thank you mac! and the word coon is not the only troubling part of that exchange. Obama bin laden is some old crap. The man is president now, wether they like it or not.
J, you need to get real. First of all, contrary to popular belief, there is NO SUCH THING AS UNBIASED JOURNALISM. Never has been, never will be. I get so sick of people trying to act as though journalists are objective, bullshit. From columnists to standard news stories, it is all biased in one way or another. And why is it that 2 other young Republicans called her on her racism if it was "no big deal" And if she is so damn busy at her job then how is it she could respond to him right away, and then again 8 minutes later? She wasn't busy. She is a bigot, especially with co-signing on the "illegals crap"
I love Facebook, but I've had to defriend at least one person, over some bigoted ish they said on my comments about Obama, and based on some comments they made before about "illegals taking there money' Some really close minded people out there, especially since most people who come here do so b/c they are poor and can't make a living in their home countries (especially since we have done our best to prop up companies and leaders in those places that play a big hand in keeping most of those people poor). I get so mad when I see this crap.
Did anybody catch that the genius used "there" instead of "their"? Get thee ass to a grammar class, then come at me with the slurs. Idiots!
Well, Lisa J, there's journalism that swings in a certain direction, and then their this kind. This article was just to bash the GOP, not to really inform us of anything. And I'm not sure where this "no big deal" quote came from; I certainly didn't say it. And you can't use your imagination and propose that perhaps she was answering the phone, eating a sandwich, or using the bathroom to consume 8 minutes of her life? We're not all plugged into Facebook 24 hours a day. Some of us have lives that center around the real world.
And not to unplay her indisgression. She needs to wake up about her thought processes. But as I said before, she should be punished, but not burned at the stake. Let's take some perspection on this issue.
Again, why then did other people in the GOP call her out for her comments and why did the author point that out if it was just a "hatchet job"? Then the author could have just said, other people called her out, and not mentioned that they were also leaders in the young GOP.
And I didn't say you said no big deal, but that seems to be your attitude. The point of the article was to call her out for her laughing out loud to her racist friends comments. And since she was soooo busy for those 8 minutes, how is it that she could respond so quickly to the first comment? I call bullshit! And if she was so upset, to the point of crying about it, then why did she originally find it funny? What did she think coon meant? Racoon? I think not. It isn't like it was a long comment where she might have been skimming it. Even if she did go to the bathroom or whatever (see IIhave "IMAGINATION," though what imagination truly has to do with thinking someone went to the bathroom is beyond me) , and didn't know what coon meant, or didn't see that part of the comment why did she unfriend the folks who called her on it but keep Mr. Racist 2009?
And the dude who said lower in the thread on her page that he asks people in Wal-mart if they want him to buy their stuff now rather than have his tax dollars sent to them later, what a pompus ass! If he really does do that I hope someone knocks him silly. I guess he forgets that unless he went to private school, their taxes or their parent's tax dollars may have helped to pay his taxes, peoples taxes subsidize his daily mail, the roads he drives on, the lights on his street and lots of other things he takes for granted. Arrogant idiot.
Natalie, you said everything that I was thinking.
Come correctly speaking English girl! Damn. The Least You Can Do.
No need for profanities, Lisa J. That's sort of the issue here, isn't it? He said "coon." You called him an arrogant idiot. Danielle called her a shasshat.
We are gifted with the power of words. A gift over any other creature on this earth. Do you really need to use it to barade someone with profanities and insults. Insults only nurture further insults. Responding to "coon" with additional profanities doesn't help any of us remove that derogatory from our lexicon.
I'm unhappy with the situation, but I'd rather we teach the ignorant rather than yell at them for being ignorant. How does insulting an ignorant person actually remove their ignorance? Teach them the error of their ways.
her defense is plausible. but i never understand apologizing and then trying to cover up. she should just say eff you to anyone who has a problem.