N-Word Used in Anti-Health Reform Sign

"N**** Rig It." That's the sign outside the Georgia Peach Oyster Bar in Paulding County, Georgia. It's been put up by restaurant owner Patrick Lanzo to protest health insurance reform.

As CBS Atlanta reported:

When you walk into the Georgia Peach Oyster Bar in Paulding County, you feel like you've walked into a different era.

First, the restaurant has a mannequin in a Klu Klux Klan costume standing behind the pool tables, but the sign outside is the real shocker. It says: "Obama's plan for health-care: N***** rig it."

According to the Urban Dictionary, that term means either:

• To put something together in a very poor manner, or
• To temporarily "fix" something using whatever materials are at hand. Perfectly acceptable in an emergency, but not as a general rule.

Hey, it says "perfectly acceptable in an emergency," which is what our health care system is in right now, is it not?

At any rate, Patrick Lasko claims he is not a racist, but that instead, he has simply "used that term all his life." He also says the sign is about a "substandard health care plan."

Now, if he means that in terms of a lack of a public option, I agree with him. If he means that in terms of any change at all, that's something different. At any rate, Lasko said “I stand by my president, but I also stand by my First Amendment right to criticize him if I feel he’s wrong."

It's not the first time Lasko has put up these sorts of seemingly racist signs. And that prompted the The West Metro NAACP to issue this statement:

"This latest ploy for attention by Mr. Lanzo is not surprising. What is of concern however, is the total lack of leadership and action from the elected officials of Paulding County, who repeatedly have allowed this type of toxic public display."

Watch a video report from CBS Atlanta, via Raw Replay: