Over the years, BlackWomenViews founder and political analyst Reecie Colbert has ruffled quite a few feathers with her audacious takes on cultural happenings. She has appeared on MSNBC’s Symone Sanders’ show as well as the Clay Cane Show. Perhaps she is best known as a regular commentator on Roland Martin Unfiltered, where she expresses herself with equal parts intelligence and bravado.
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Her new digital book, “Long and Short Of It Guide To The 2022 Midterms: The Radical Republicans,” is (as Colbert describes) a “quick and dirty read” that profiles 20 GOP candidates with racist, sexist and regressive ideologies. Colbert tells The Root about how the Republican party is the most dangerous its ever been.
“We’re always focused on the Democrats and ‘the Democrats ain’t doing this, the Democrats ain’t doing that, the Democrats didn’t cancel my student debt.’ We need to recognize the Republicans’ will to either obstruct progress or to enact their agenda and it’s a very regressive agenda. These people do not have a plan to make society better—they only have a plan to deconstruct it. They only want to disenfranchise and marginalize...that’s their only plan.”
From Texas Governor Gregg Abbott to U.S. Senate Candidates Herschel Walker (Georgia) and J.D. Vance (Ohio), Colbert explains that hatred remains one of the core principles of the GOP. “J.D. Vance is running the most vile campaign, hands down...like he’s explicitly appealing to racists. He says: ‘Do you hate Mexicans? Are you racist?’ Like that’s an actual line from a commercial. His campaign is all about white grievance—he’s a Kyle Rittenhouse supporter.”
Colbert also called out the “insidious and sinister” nature of Florida governor Ron DeSantis (who is behind the “Stop WOKE Act and “Don’t Say Gay” bill) as well as the hypocrisy of Herschel Walker. “I try to give a lot of grace to Black people, especially in the political space. If you’re a Republican, I’m just gonna leave you alone. I’m not really going to drag you the way I would drag a Liz Chaney or a Ron DeSantis.
“But Herschel is remarkably unserious and when he does speak, it’s just complete gibberish—and he does not care about Black people. He said ‘I apologize to the Black community because they don’t have Black fathers’ and he himself has been an absentee dad...like, come on. He’s just performing for white audiences.”
Colbert ultimately wants her book to be used as a tool to educate the masses. “I’ve whittled down hours and hours of research into a really digestible book so you can ingest information about these candidates and understand what’s happening around the country. I want people to feel empowered, I want them to feel informed.”
She also wants folks—specifically Black people—to recognize their political and social capital. “I just want us to really recognize that the stakes are high. I know they were high before I wrote this book, but after writing it, I want everyone to see that we have a real chance to change the trajectory of this country.”
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