US Senator Decided To Fire Off A "Colored" While Describing The Poor

WASH – During a committee hearing last Thursday, Republicans in the Washington State Senate had a really hard time wrapping their heads around a proposal that would require the state to carry out racial impact statements on legislation when requested by lawmakers…”I want to correct what I said,” State senator Jim Honeyford shot back: “I said the poor are more likely to commit crimes, and, uh, colored 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.”

Old people. So set in their ways it’s not even worth arguing with them. Uh, dude, “Colored” is not the preferred nomenclature. African-American*, please. It’s a good thing he didn’t get heated and let the N bombs fly. But this isn’t my grandmother at the Thanksgiving table innocently describing her bus driver. This is a United States Senator. You can’t exactly ignore whatever he says and continue on the normal conversation counting down the holidays till they die. The best/worst part is what he actually said is 100000x worse than using that term. Old man Honeyford not only confirmed minorities are poor, but double downed saying they’re more likey to commit crimes. And he’s citing sociological precedent, dammit. Go ahead and check any of your fancy books.

*I’m not trying to be racist or ignorant but do black still prefer to be called African-American or just black? I legitimately have no idea and use anything at all to avoid both terms when describing someone to strangers, which obviously makes it even more awkward.