State Senator: Oklahoma Democratic Party treats blacks like "disposable diapers"

Retiring State Sen. Judy Eason-McEntyre gave her fellow Democrats an earful at a delegation breakfast Thursday morning, according to a NewsOK story.

With four other black members of the Oklahoma Legislature standing silently behind her in a food tent at the state delegation's hotel, Eason-McIntyre said there was "an invisible ceiling for African-Americans who have been the backbone of the Democratic Party."

She said the Oklahoma Democratic Party "has always asked us to be the workhorses," but has not reciprocated in promoting blacks for leadership positions within the party or as candidates for higher office.

Don't miss this contrast at the end of the story:

A black state legislator said later that he agreed with Eason-McIntyre's remarks and pointed to the fact that Oklahoma Republicans had been willing to push J.C. Watts for statewide office and state Rep. T.W. Shannon for Speaker of the House.

When Watts went to the Democratic Party to get involved, the legislator said, Democrats wanted him to stuff envelopes. The Republican Party ran him for state Corporation Commission, he said. Watts went on to serve four terms in Congress.