Oh, the problems that can be caused in 140 characters or less on Twitter. When the Republican Party thought it was doing the nice and politically correct thing yesterday by recognizing Rosa Parks‘ role in the Civil Rights Movement when she refused to move from her seat on that Montgomery bus 58 years ago, little did it know it would kick up a Twitter firestorm.
This came after President Obama elicited negative reactions in some quarters when he posted a picture on Twitter of himself sitting on the Rosa Parks bus at the Henry Ford Museum near Detroit. Some critics called it narcissistic for the president to compare himself to Rosa Parks, as if the nation’s first Black president doesn’t know anything about courage in the face of hate and ugliness.
The RNC Tweet that brought out the Twitter comedians said, “Today we remember Rosa Parks’ bold stand and her role in ending racism.”
Those last two words struck many people as quite ridiculous. So before the RNC could send out an “Oops” tweet, correcting its error by claiming it meant to say “fighting to end racism,” Twitter exploded with hilarious tweets under the hashtag #racismendedwhen.
Some standout examples:
#Racismendedwhen Jamie Foxx killed all the White people
#RacismEndedWhen The Jeffersons “moved on up.”
#racismendedwhen the iphone was available in both black and white.
#RacismEndedWhen Macklemore won AMA’s Best Rap Song
#RacismEndedWhen Mitt Romney sang who let the dogs out.
#RacismEndedWhen white people started “twerking”
#RacismEndedWhen Arnold and Willis were adopted by Mr. Drummond”
