But first ... an UPDATE:
An emergency has come up ... nothing horrible, just an inconvenience ... so the trip to Miami ... and the sun ... is off for this month and will hopefully be rescheduled soon.
So, yeah, I'll be here, and now my blog has all kinds of posts scheduled for the week any way!
Republican Washington State Senator Jim Honeyford was debating
legislation last week that would require lawmakers to include in future bills a
statement of the racial impact their proposed legislation would have.
Now quite a few state legislatures require bills to include
financial impact statements — you know, how much is John Q Public gonna have to pay for this — and some
states do the same for the environment — how is this legislation going to hurt,
or help, the environment; but Honeyford’s proposal is how a bill will impact race—as
in, how would a bill disproportionally impact racial minorities, for example.
It sounds kinda reasonable, but Honeyford didn’t seem quite clear on his
message:
"It's generally accepted that the poor are more likely to commit crimes. And generally, I think, accepted that people of color are more likely poor than not. So how does that factor into your equation?"
One Senator, a
democrat, Bob Hasegawa, asked for a clarification:
"It's probably true that there's more people of color in jails or facing prosecutions. But will these types of analysis will help us get to the root of what is actually causing that kind of disparate treatment."
Honeyford replied:
"I want to correct what I said. I said the poor are more likely to commit crimes, and, uh, colored [are] most likely to be poor. I didn't say anything else other that. And I believe that's an accepted fact, and if you check any of your sociology books or anything else you'll find that's an accepted fact of our society."
Let’s not even get into the idea that he said poor people
are criminals — without bothering to understand why people are poor in the first place — or that most poor people
are people of color, let’s just understand that in the year 2015, a politician,
an elected official, during the course of debate, thought the best word to describe
African Americans was ‘colored.’
via NCRM
ak! ak! ak! All I can say is he is from another district than ours.
ReplyDeletecripes, what's next - the "religious impact" on a business?
ReplyDeleteyeah, who uses the word "colored" any more...except an ugly old white male asshat?
Yes, poverty affects black people disproportionately and yes, poverty leads to crime. However, most of the people who live in poverty in the U.S. are white. Therefore, were we really to add extra policing to areas most likely to encounter crime, then we would be tougher on white neighborhoods. Bet that he never considered that! This guy belongs in Alabama with his attitudes.
ReplyDeleteCOLORED?????? What century did he crawl out of? For lands sakes Washington folks recall him!
ReplyDelete