You've read and heard about it but, still, can you believe that a U.S. House Representative (Geoff Davis - R), from a southern state (Kentucky) no less, would say this about Obama: "That boy's finger does not need to be on the button"?
Even with an apology, it's still such an outrageous statement in more ways than one.
Taking second place is the chairman of Associated Press who, when asking Obama a question at a large gathering about Osama Bin Laden, refererred to him as Obama Bin Laden.
The AP chairman, W. Dean Singleton, can get a pass for a mental slip (I hope), but there's no excuse for Rep. Davis.
3 comments:
I disagree.
In southern patois, the word "boy" can be employed negatively without racism.
Southerners use the word "boy" to highlight someone's youth or lack of experience, but rarely is it used to denote or comment on race.
Believe me, there are plenty of other more colorful words that can be used for that.
I believe this to be much ado about nothing.
Joe, Geoff Davis apologized today, so he obviously realizes his mistake. While there are certainly more colorful words, "boy" was used very derogatorily for many years, I suspect primarily in the southern states such as Kentucky. So, I disagree that he was simply highlighting Obama's youth compared to McCain's (beyond mandatory retirement) age.
I have to believe it was racist. And even if it wasn't, a person in his position should know better -- should know how saying something like that would be interpreted. Take, for example, if Bill Clinton, from the South, would have made that same statement.
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