PHOENIX – East Valley NAACP-Arizona President Roy Tatem is being called out for his hypocrisy by Rep. Walter Blackman for what has been described as a personal attacks against him and for failing to defend the NAACP’s mission statement.
Rep. Blackman, the first African American Republican elected to the Arizona State House, explained in an interview on KFYI’s James T. Harris radio show, how Tatem wrote directly to his followers on social media, telling them that the African-American Republican needed to be “taken to task” for “voting along party lines.”
He also recounted how he was warned by Tatem, who approached him earlier this month at the Arizona African-American Legislative Conference in Phoenix, to “watch his back.”
According to the NAACP website, “the stated mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons.”
Rep. Blackman contends that Tatem’s recent comments and behavior reveal a deep conflict of interest that is in direct opposition with the NAACP’s avowed mission to ensure “the political…equality of rights” of all persons.
Republican Party of Arizona Chairman Kelli Ward called the personal attacks made against Rep. Blackman, “unacceptable and outrageous,” in a press release.
“Walter Blackman is an outstanding human being, not to mention a loving husband and father. He doesn’t deserve this type of treatment from anyone — let alone the president of the East Valley NAACP. I have spoken with Rep. Blackman and assured him the Republican Party of Arizona is fully behind him and that we have his back.”
Blackman’s seat mate, Rep. Bob Thorpe stated, “My friend, Rep. Walt Blackman, a veteran who bravely served our country in the U.S. Army, is a pleasure to serve with in the House and to have him as my LD-6 seat mate. I know personally about liberals and journalists, who have treated Walt in racist ways. If this treatment wasn’t so unacceptable, it would be comical, because hypocritical liberal Democrats and their fake news press, you know, the folks who brought us Jim Crow laws and segregation, want you to believe that they are the champions of minorities. In their mental confusion malaise, they instinctively attack anyone who ‘steps out of line’ and thinks for themselves… truly sad, classical racist behavior. Decades after the sorrow and loss of murdered iconic hero Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it appears that liberal Democrats are still judging people by the color of their skin, not by the content of their character.”
“This man is not only hypocritical, but aggressive,” said Blackman in the AZGOP press release. “I’m honored to serve the people of Arizona as an African-American member of the legislature. I hope that by providing new leadership, I can impact and influence other black Republicans to get involved and not feel threatened by the NAACP mob.”