How the GOP’s Twitter Fail Led to a Great Conversation About Race

Racism didn't end on Sunday. But a lot of folks were talking about race. Here's why.

By Jamilah King Dec 02, 2013

At about 10 a.m. on Sunday morning someone on the Republican National Committee’s social media team decided it would be a good idea to tweet a photo of Rosa Parks along with one of her quotes that read, "You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right." That, alone, might have been fine and well if not for the message that the GOP tweeted alongside it: "Today we remember Rosa Parks’ bold stand and her role in ending racism."

Yup, that’s right. The GOP is celebrating the end of racism because apparently no one person or institution is racist anymore. A few hours later the RNC tweeted a correction that the "previous tweet should have read "Today we remember Rosa Parks’ bold stand and her role in fighting to end racism." Whoops.

That sparked the moment when Twitter user @FeministaJones started the #RacismEndedWhen hashtag. Buzzfeed has a pretty concise history of what comes next, most of which includes some really great and sometimes snarky reflections on race in America.