Snoop Dogg recently dusted off a 1970s sit-com reference and combined it with a racial slur to take a cheap, ill-informed shot at 11 black conservatives.

Referring to his 11 hand-picked nemeses as “The Coon Bunch,” Snoop Dogg reiterated a slur which today is used similarly to “Uncle Tom” as a way to brand non-liberal blacks as race-traitors. The slur is thought to come from barracoon by way of the Portuguese barraca meaning “slave depot, pen or rough enclosure for black slaves in transit….”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by snoopdogg (@snoopdogg) on

In 2008 Snoop Dogg – the astute political observer, as you may remember – offered his list of reasons for voting for Barack Obama, including “He’s hugged Beyonce before and sniffed her neck,” and reasons for voting against Mitt Romney, including “He’s a Mormon but he ain’t got no hoes.” Snoop has been in and out of trouble with the law in several countries on drug and weapons charges throughout his career.

Meanwhile, let’s meet some of the people Snoop Dogg has labeled as “coons.”

Pastor Darrell C. Scott was once embroiled in legal troubles similar to the ones that have plagued Snoop Dogg: selling and using drugs and stealing cars. As a young adult, Scott became a born again Christian, and went on to found the non-denominational New Spirit Revival Center in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. His ministry has reached thousands of people directly, and many more through its Radio 1000 station which brings the Gospel to 2.5 million listeners across the globe. The ministry also hosts a sizeable, critically-acclaimed child-care center.

Terrence K. Williams is an actor, comedian, and viral political commentator who has succeeded despite a rough upbringing in which he bounced around a series of foster homes in the Oklahoma City area. Since achieving viral internet fame, Williams “has dedicated his platform and comedic career to improving the lives of underprivileged children everywhere.”

Herman Cain graduated from the historically-black Morehouse College, rose through the Pillsbury Company, eventually becoming chairman and CEO of Godfather’s Pizza for 10 years, served as chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, and was the CEO of the National Restaurant Association from 1996 to 1999. In addition to running in the 2012 Republican presidential primaries, this self-made multi-millionaire focuses his philanthropic efforts on helping inner-city youths get ahead in life.

Candace Owens is the author of the forthcoming book Blackout, currently a #1 best seller on Amazon. Although initially critical of President Donald Trump, negative interactions with liberals during the early stages of her career caused her to re-evaluate her politics and move to support Trump. She has since worked for TurningPoint USA, served as a guest host on Fox News, and currently hosts The Candace Owens Show for PragerU. She also founded the Blexit movement to encourage African Americans to abandon the Democratic Party, aiming “to change the narrative that surrounds America’s minority communities – with a particular focus on African Americans.”

These are only a few of the hard-working people that Snoop Dogg has implied are traitors to their race. Based on the examples of their lives however, it seems evident that Owens, Cain, Williams, Scott, and likely the rest of Dogg’s “Coon Bunch” have worked hard to overcome difficulties and achieve great things. They are now trying to give back to the African American community and the other groups that have shaped their lives.

White liberals do not demonize white conservatives as race traitors for voting the way they do, nor do white conservatives demonize white liberals in such a way. It seems the only time that anyone feels comfortable using racial slurs in mainstream political discourse is to demonize black conservatives for their supposed wrong-think.

Even if such commentary were to avoid the racial slurs, the attitudes that black conservatives have to endure from liberals of every race is so offensive as to be racist in its own right. The idea that if you haven’t already pledged your undying loyalty to Joe Biden then “you ain’t black” is sufficient evidence of the wrong-headed racial collectivism demonstrated by large elements of the left in contemporary American politics.

In 2014, basketball hall of famer Charles Barkley went on a rant regarding comments that Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson was not “black enough.”

“When you are black, you have to deal with so much crap in your life from other black people,” Barkley said on a CBS radio interview. Barkley continued:

“It’s best to knock a successful black person down because they’re intelligent, they speak well, they do well in school, and they’re successful. It’s just typical BS that goes on when you’re black, man.”

Snoop Dogg’s post may not directly deal with blackness as it relates to the issues Barkley highlighted, but it does add politics to Barkley’s calculus. The harshest critics of black conservatives often seem to be black liberals.

Why can’t we all just accept that every race has liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans? Neither party has a monopoly on truth, and certainly neither party has a monopoly on so-called white values, or so-called black values, or the so-called values of any other race.

In 2020 Americans will be electing leaders for America, not for subdivisions of this country broken down by race. Why is it so bad for black Americans to disagree with one another and have discussions about the best way forward for their community? Such discussions allow for the development and exchange of ideas, whereas a vacuum devoid of political discourse would only result in stagnation.

Would we deny such academic and philosophical pursuits to any other group?

Editor’s Note: The original article incorrectly cited “Coon Bunch” as “Coon Squad.” We apologize for the error.