New Rochelle Democratic Council Member Jared Rice Becomes Social Media Star with RNC Tweet on #NegroSpotting

Written By: Robert Cox

JaredRiceTweet negrospotting

Our own Council Member Jared Rice of New Rochelle (D-District 3) is a social media star in the making.

From small things, big things one day come.

Yesterday, Rice had a few dozen Twitter followers and zero mentions on political blogs around the country. Today he has 127 followers and climbing and has not gotten over a hundred mentions in blogs and tweets from coast to coast including mentions on an NBC News media site and a twitter curation site run by Michelle Malkin, a Fox News contributor. Can Rush Limbaugh be far behind? He now has way more than our own Mayor, Noam Bramson. In a bit of irony, Bramson will head to the DNC in Charlotte next week with just 98 followers.

As someone familiar with this space I am keeping an eye on this because this is the sort of thing that can take off in the Twittersphere and blogosphere. I’ve seen it many times before and I suspect we may see this again.

The term Rice used on Twitter has exploded in the Twittersphere as has his own Twitter tag @CouncilmanRice. It’s safe to say that Jared Rice is the most famous City Council member in American right now!

Not everyone in New Rochelle may know these names but trust me, if you look at the list of Tweets with @CouncilmanRice, you are starting to see some big names: Michelle Malkin, Bill Hobbs, JammieWearingFool, etc.

All of this began with a tweet made by Rice as he was watching the opening night of the RNC in Tampa (above).

The phrase actually predated the RNC in Tampa but was mentioned by theGrio.com, an African-American news site run by NBC News and Bartunde, a lefty AA blogger. Michelle Malkin, a leading conservative blogger, jumped on theGrio.com and the gloves came off. Rice unwittingly stepped into the middle of it (he has since expressed his regret for the use of the phrase).

We follow Council Member Rice on Twitter here at Talk of the Sound and both retweeted it and its made its way out to some of my friends on the right-wing blogosphere. I engaged Rice in some dialog over Twitter on the subject he raised. Soon, conservative bloggers were attacking Rice all over the country and Twitter conversation got started.

Twitchy (Michelle Malkin’s Twitter Curation Site)

So this is post-racial America, huh? Jared Rice, a city councilman and NAACP member from New Rochelle, N.Y., is now playing a game he calls #negrospotting as he views coverage of the Republican National Convention.

The meme got legs after The Grio picked it up on Twitter.

Grio RiceNegrospottingTweeet

TheGrio.com is a division of NBC News, is a daily online news and opinion platform devoted to delivering stories and perspectives that reflect and affect African-American audiences. News coverage and reporting from TheGrio regularly appears on other NBC News platforms such as “NBC Nightly News,” “Today,” Rock Center with Brian Williams,” MSNBC TV and msnbc.com. In March of 2012, TheGrio was one of the first news publications to launch reports looking into the story of Trayvon Martin.

Jammie Wearing Fool: Hilarious New Twitter Hashtag: #negrospotting at the #RNC (National Political Blog)

That’s Councilman Jared Rice of New Rochelle, NY. They must be proud of him. Surely has a big future in the Democratic Party, home of casual racism.

The Hayride Tuesday RNC Wrapup (Louisiana Political Blog)

First of all, a bunch of left-wing slimeballs took to Twitter to start a disgusting hashtag: #negrospotting. It was launched, apparently, by Jared Rice, a city councilman and NAACP member from New Rochelle, N.Y.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The term was not “launched” by Rice. It was a trending topic on Twitter at the time.

Marooned in Marin (Virginia Political Blog)

Amusing? We’re not sure how amusing it would be if a conservative started a similar hashtag. Keep in mind that “The Grio” is “the official NBC News community devoted [to] perspectives that affect and reflect the African-American community.” Is there no end to the #NBCFail?

JaredRiceTwitterAcct08 2012

UPDATE: This has actually become quite amazing, the tweet has taken on a life of its own with many believing (incorrectly) that Jared Rice started this trending topic. There are now hundreds of tweets mentioning @CouncilmanRice. No one seems to defending the comment, including Rice.

Freepers took it.

A Fishing web site in Maine took it.

Even a City Councilman from New Rochelle New York, one Jared Rice, got in on the fun:
Jared Rice @CouncilmanRice

Council Member Rice somehow got into the middle of a fight between Clay Aiken and John Rich of the country music group Big and Rich where he was, once again, incorrectly identified as the originator of the phrase:

Celebuzz: Clay Aiken and John Rich Feud on Twitter Over Racism, Republican Convention

The “#negrospotting” hashtag that so offended Rich may have begun with Jared Rice, who is a city councilman in New Rochelle, N.Y. and who is also a member of his local NAACP chapter. He, too, was watching the convention crowds:
I’m watching the RNC convention and am looking for black faces but am hard pressed to find them. They say this is called #negrospotting lol.
— Jared Rice (@CouncilmanRice) August 28, 2012

A web site in Texas picked it up.

Urbangrounds: Most Racist Twitter Hashtag Ever: #NegroSpotting

And playing right along? A New York councilman, Jared Rice…since we’re free to openly perpetuate stereotypes… ‘Yo, @CouncilmanRice, you know where else you might want to try playing #NegroSpotting?…

Developing…

16 thoughts on “New Rochelle Democratic Council Member Jared Rice Becomes Social Media Star with RNC Tweet on #NegroSpotting”

  1. Cory Booker
    How dare a man like Cory Booker think for himself? The white powers in the Democratic Party made for damn sure he got in line (but they’re not racists). “Damn it Cory, you’re a black man. You better start thinking like a black man.” Larry N had a good line about skin color not matching politics. Larry, you better stay in the political closet. What a terrible tragedy that a very smart guy like Booker must think and talk within party rules OR ELSE. Imagine being a guy like him and you just have to hold your nose and rationalize racist comments by white men in your party. “Yeah, but look at his record. Senator Byrd never really meant to joint the Klan.” #MisguidedByaRacistParty
    #TooScaredToBeMockedByJonStewart

  2. The DNC
    Gearing up for some Socialist Spotting tonite at the DNC on MSNBC! #saynotoeuro #thats1maddow #thats2harrisperry #thats3hayes #thats4wagner

  3. Forget #negrospotting…
    How about some #newroretailspotting

    whereas I do not tweet, if TOT or anyone else utilizes my hashtag, I would like any and all royalties associated with said hashtag

  4. he’s a councilman?
    Did the councilman have a problem that an unknown black Senator was the keynote speaker at the 2004 Dem. National Convention? Yes, the Rep Convention put many black faces on the podium. Probably because they’re accused of racism all the time. However, they DID actually have a message if you cared to listen. You don’t need MSNBC to tell you what to think. The good councilman feels patronized by Republicans, but not by Democrats, the masters of it. A bunch of white wealthy Democrats get together and put an inexperienced black man as a presidential candidate, Rice is ok with that. Just keep voting the way you do, and those white, wealthy, all caring Democrats will keep you in the loop.

  5. Warren Gross
    You have never had the last word on anything.
    Why don’t you run for council??
    I can’t even read your posts, because my wrist hurts from scrolling down.
    Can’t you make a point in one paragraph?
    You go ahead and “change New Rochelle”.
    My family has lived here for 3 generations. IT WILL NEVER CHANGE! Its to late.
    You keep charging that windmill Don Quixote, if it wasn’t for this site no one would have ever heard of you.

    1. IT WILL NEVER CHANGE! Its too late.
      Truer words were never spoken. To reiterate:

      “My family has lived here (New Rochelle) for 3 generations. IT WILL NEVER CHANGE! Its too late.”

      Mine too, both sets of grandparents came here in the early 1900’s, ASSIMILATED (imagine that?), paid off their houses, raised 18 kids between them, followed the rules, didn’t expect handouts, hated politicians (happy to say I inherited that from them), were afraid of the Pope (happy to say I didn’t inherit that from them), and otherwise led lives of minor distinction in a town they all loved. I’ve been out for over two decades and I still love New Rochelle.

      Nope, it will never change. Yup, it is way too late. The crooked politicians sucking the coffers dry since 1991 for their own advancement saw to that.

      But Queen City, and yes it WAS just that, if Warren can change New Rochelle, I say more power to him.

  6. Dumb and Dumber
    Unfortunately, an ocean of black and brown faces in Tampa wouldn’t change Mr. Rice’s vote at all. He, along with 98% of black America, will vote for the failed policies and ideology of Barack Obama, once again.

    It’s as if these past four years of economic failure and the crushing debt Mr. Obama’s policies have planned for the nation, never happened. The evidence of an amateur politician,in a job over his head, stares them in the face, and yet they whistle on their way down to Charlotte as the car revs up to take us all over a fiscal cliff.

    Stupid Is As Stupid Does.

    And stupid doesn’t have a color.

    1. listen, don’t look
      Further, an ocean of black and brown faces wouldn’t help any other person in this country with a black or brown face. Some only see color. While most great men and women look for their representatives to reflect their ideas, some want them only to reflect their skin color. The strange irony is that he does see some truth, but it’s in the wrong political party. You can tell a lot about a man not by his skin color, but his philosophy.
      1. “I’m watching the RNC convention looking for black faces but am hard pressed to find them. This is called #negrospotting lol.”
      –lol??? This is funny. If you watched MSNBC, you won’t find them. Are you supposed to feel good seeing a black face. As an educated man, shouldn’t you be listening to ideas rather than counting black faces? If you found one, they’d already be labeled by the left for you as Uncle Toms. I guess negrospotting is ok since it’s in the liberal realm of hipness.

      2. “@TalkoftheSound thanks for doing the math for me. However the latest polls show Romney has 0% of the AA vote so your tally might be generous.”
      –Zero percent, really? Not one black man supports Romney. You would be proud of that. I guess all those Uncle Tom labels liberals throw around are working.

      3. “@TalkoftheSound nonetheless, I’m glad we can have some fun about this despite its inherent seriousness.”
      –yes, people holding 100% of their opinions based on race is a very serious issue.

      4. “@TalkoftheSound let’s just hope those registered voters have ID’s”
      –God forbid a voter show ID. Is the voting process so meaningless to you that integrity of an election is a means to a political jab?

      5. “……….If I were a Republican, I’d be speaking at the convention just because of my skin color”
      –According to your party, your political party matches your skin color just right. Don’t even dare talk about achieving success on your own. Here is where he gets to some truth, but he has been so warped by the left he misses it. He is either a victim of the left, or a willing accomplice who gets something out of the whole race issue. There are minorities who have been so manipulated by the left, their dreams and hopes have been replaced with resentment of the rich. The left instills this resentment, and then tells them they are the solution. I feel for them. However, there are the Al Sharpton types who derive their power from resentment. Some men would be nothing without their political power to “help the poor.” The fact that help comes in the form of killing their dreams is meaningless to them.

      6. “African Americans represent just 1% of the delegates at #RNC. RP has to do better addressing AA issues.”
      –Really? Does skin color change the fact that jobs are important? Do people with different skin colors somehow have different needs? Jobs, national security, debt reduction – nothing in there for African Americans or nothing in there for the Democratic Party? Placing people in housing projects with inspirational signs doesn’t help anyone. When a human regardless of color is at that point when they can either persevere through their own strength, or give up, the last thing they need is a party telling them it’s not their fault and we will supply you all your needs. Perhaps a man like you can help the black community be more receptive to ideas that could really help them. You might put yourself out of a job, but it would be worth it. With a change in philosophy, you’d be a welcome addition.

      7. “Regret using trending hashtag #negrospotting in tweet…became easty target…rather keep on the issues.
      –from your tweets, that does seem to be the ONLY issue.

      8. “In last Democratic National Convention, #AfricanAmericans made up almost a quarter of the delegates.”
      –and that means???? If I were to believe I’d be in a better position because someone at a convention shared my skin color, at best I’m an idiot, at worst I’m a racist.

      I’m not doubting what Warren Gross wrote below. May be a great family man. I’m looking at political philosophy and what a man deems important. When a man has been taught to be so focused on race, he misses a lot and sells himself short. When blinded by the R and D label, you miss a lot of REAL racism. Any reason Harry Reid is given a pass for his beliefs that America is OK with Obama because he was a “light skinned African America with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one” Oh yes, because he votes the “right” way. The real civil rights giants would be ashamed at what is construed as racism today, and the blind eye to real racism.
      -signed, a dark skinned man with a southern dialect that I couldn’t lose even if I wanted to

  7. Typical political ploy
    Hey Jared, excuse me Councilman Rice, why don’t you take a ride through Districts 5 & 6 and perform #NegroSpotting.

    I guess you were too busy #NegroSpotting the audience as opposed to watcing the podium with multiple African Americans speaking to the ISSUES. That’s where the focus should be but unfortunalely when political parties get desparate they default to race baiting and class warfare a typical political ploy for democrats. But you have to give the dems credit, it’s workrd so far.

    Hopefully the issues of unemployment, maintaining one’s home and too high taxes, in other words the ISSUES, will drive this election cycle as opposed to Councilman Rice’s “casual racism”.

  8. Jared Rice is Not a Racist
    I am computer illerate, but social media aversive. It is often the cave of scoundrels and provides many an anonymous source or special agenda site to jump into something and label and most sadly, remove focus from what is really essential. In our case, it is the governance we experience daily in New Rochelle.

    Being ignorant of techicalities I had the neigbhor’s kid poke and prod and identify the likely source of how this hashtag arose. I know nothing about hashtag’s, I know dogtags. I also know that I have been taught to judge a man by his works, not his words, his behavior not his attitude.

    So if any of you want to continue to play this out, do so. My only step is to call Jared and offer my support while informing him that I am going to be increasingly interested in how he and the other Council Members handle the key issues we are faced with in New Rochelle. You of course, can do what you please.

    I worked with him at his invitation several times over the past 18 months in community clean-up events. We bent down together to pick up litter, had a coffee, I met his wife and daughter. A fine man who has had a pretty rough ride in town; maybe it had something to do with his overwhelming victory in his district in some quarters, and frankly, in others, he was seen as not being “black eenough.”

    We deal in hastags,abbreviated script, and if you are a computer ringmaster you can find shit iike this. So my little 14 year old friend found something called Twitchy. He’ll find more; maybe I can add it to my compost pile along with other sites like Gawker.

    I did see two comments…. (1) Ms. April Davis, a woman of color indicated that “I luv when #Black Twitter can make me chuckle with its hashtags, but I’ not feeling #Negro Spotting or #Negro Spotting TV… # Not Funny. Then Michelle Malkin herself says, if I can decipher the hieroglyphics… seems to make the point that the Grio is the official NBC News community negot spotting is amusing — may have said more so read it for yourself.

    She is a smart woman and knows this is not a viral item. I don’t care if it is. I care about helping to resurrect a community, seeking out the real impediments to a just society and community are identified and confronted…. what we heard in different forms from Paul Ryan, the incredible Condi Rice, others at the GOP convention is an important first step in going back to the middle with a healthy bending toward the right; the advice given to us by Simpson Bowles.

    If this was in a Chris Rock skit, we all would see the humor in it… like someone with spy glasses looking for negroes.

    All of you who are poised to throw stones, think of how often you used the N word, the C or B word, the H or Q word, or ethnically, the Italian W,G,D, etc words, or a Jew the K, Y words, or Irish the D or M words…. you don’t? bullshit.

    Social Media, like Rust, never sleeps. It captures everything and any skilled hunter with bad intentions, can make a meal of it.

    Negro? Do we still hear this phrase…. maybe that is good.

    I told my young searcher after tipping him liberally my idea for a house party tonight. I am going to have a “black watch” party…. spot a person of color, gonna down a shot of Black Watch Scotch… Oh, by the way, the GOP has a young African American woman from Utah who we will hear a lot of her in the future.

    I will call Jared shortly and tell him that he mispoke, in fact, it is bad lawyering to use language like, “I heard that”,,,

    I believe him and in his integrity and there is not a racist bone in his body. I will tell him that I will continue to hold his feet to the fire on making this city work beginning with priority number 1… restoring and resurrecting downtown new rochelle.

    I think he will do what he thinks is right.

    And, yes Jared Rice is a friend and these are my last words on this topic.

    1. these are my last words on this topic.
      The betting pool os open on how long Warren can last without adding anything further to this topic 🙂

  9. Next Week the DNC,MSNBC and CNN
    Don’t worry Jared next week the DNC,MSNBC and CNN will use black faces as the forefront of the camera shots. They will show the Democrats as the party o unity while trying to show the RNC as the divisive party.
    For almost a century the rank and file have bought the BS and signed on….
    Here in the USA your entitled to work hard to gain anything but I guess some people would rather get thrown a bone and complain. Conde Rice is a poster child of America not caring about Color but caring about work ethic.
    Sad that many blacks still buy the BS even sadder that a guy of Jared Rice’s education still believes in Santa Claus.

  10. MSNBC Omits coverage of Black and Hispanic speakers
    Way to go MSNBC. I guess it didn’t serve their agenda? on a side note, I think Mr. Rice is a decent guy and independent thinker. A nice addition to new Rochelle politics.

  11. #negrospotted
    “Where does America stand? You see when the friends or foes alike
    don’t know the answer to that question, unambiguously and
    clearly, the world is likely to be a more dangerous and chaotic
    place.
    Since World War II, the United States has had an answer to
    that question. We stand for free peoples and free markets. We
    will defend and support them.”

    It seems ONE Rice got it right

  12. No black faces at the RNC
    No black faces at the RNC convention? Whose fault is that? What has the donkey party done for the AA’s?

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