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We are represented by racists
State Senator Chris Buttars (South Jordan, West Jordan, and Herriman) recently came under harsh fire for describing a bill he opposed saying, “This baby is black. . . . It’s a dark, ugly thing.” On Tuesday he refused to meet with the NAACP to discuss his comment and complained that he had become a target of a “hate lynch mob” because of e-mails he has received condemning his remarks. When the NAACP held up pictures of a real lynching in Price, Utah and said he clearly didnt know what lynching means, Buttars responded, “Lynch mob is a Western term. You wouldn’t find one person in 10,000 in Utah that thinks that’s a racist term. That’s not a racial term in my opinion. How do I know what words I’m supposed to use in front of those people?”
I am one person in 10,000, I guess, who thinks “lynch mob” is a racial term. “Those people” are calling for Buttars to resign immediately, and so do I.
Read the Salt Lake Tribune article here.
-Diane
Touche. Anyone read the DU editorial on the matter? Apparently calling out our election officials on their racist language undermines “spirited political debate” and is just one more example of political correctness going too far. In my mind, the constitutional protections for legislator statements was meant to allow freedom of ideas, not the liberty to promote ensconced discriminatory symbols via racist language. In using terms such as “black baby” and “lynch mob” Buttars is implying his belief that those of African-American heritage are distinctly inferior, a message that, intended or not, is NOT representative of the views of his constituency. If we cannot hold our representatives accountable for going against public opinion in statements of opinion, what good is democracy?