Political Satire or Racial Discrimination? DOJ Holder Finds a Scandal Worth Investigating

By Kim D.

Forget the IRS scandal. DOJ Eric Holder has more important issues to investigate, like a controversial 4th of July parade float in Norfolk, NE. Suspected racial discrimination has been alleged against a float depicting an outhouse with a sign on the side which read “Obama Presidential Library.”

Also included was a zombie-like mannequin, dressed in overalls, sporting a walker, with hands covering its ears. Some claim this dummy is meant to depict the president. But, does Obama have green skin? Can anyone imagine a legitimate reason why he ever wear bib overalls? Does he use a geriatric walker? Since these are the most important and pressing questions of our time, DOJ Holder appears to be giving this parade float and its creator his full attention.

According to the World Herald, The U.S. Department of Justice has joined the discussions over a controversial float in the Norfolk Independence Day parade.

The department sent a member of its Community Relations Service team, which gets involved in discrimination disputes, to a Thursday meeting about the issue.

In a statement, the Nebraska Democratic Party called the float one of the "worst shows of racism and disrespect for the presidency that Nebraska has ever seen," according to the World-Herald.

Glory Kathurima, a black woman living in Norfolk, attended the parade with her nine year-old daughter. She told CBS News Omaha affiliate KMTV she was outraged by the float and disgusted that her daughter witnessed it.

"I'm ashamed, I'm appalled," she said."You see people laughing and pointing at it, smiling, looking positive about it. I immediately felt sick to my stomach...I knew what that meant, and I knew there was no sort of political statement being made by an image like that."

The float's creator, H. Dale Remmich, has openly apologized for the outrage his political parody has created. He claims those who are outraged are simply misunderstanding the political satire. "It's me. I've got on my bibs. Yes, I've got my walker. I'm turning green and some say I look like a zombie. But I am not a hate-monger and I'm not a racist. 

Remmich says he did not mean any disrespect for the presidency. He also said one of the reasons that contributed to the making of the float is the ongoing issues of the Veteran's Affairs administration. "I have three very close friends that are under VA care, or lack there of it, right now." 

Remmich says the second reason he constructed the float was because he was disappointed with the government's handling of the Bergdahl scandal. "I tried to use political satire as best I could, but to be honest with you it's mostly political disgust, simply no more or no less." 

Since the float dummy looks nothing like the president and everything like what Remmich describes, could it be that an outhouse being likened to a presidential library is considered racist? Or, is it simply political satire, an age-old attack tool of dissident, as it was when used to poke fun at President George W. Bush and his presidential legacy.

Although it usually intends to be funny, satire's main purpose is to launch an attack using the weapon of wit . . . "Political satire is using sarcasm and/or humor to point out the foibles, incompetence, or corruption of political leaders and government actions," explains the associate professor of political science at Penn State Erie. "Social satire, while often related to political satire, pokes fun at society, daily life, or certain classes of people rather than directly at political leaders and government."