One year after Kentucky lawmakers passed a law condemning anti-Semitism, they demonstrated they have no idea what it means.
Rep. Walker Thomas, R-Hopkinsville, and Sen. Rick Girdler, R-Somerset, each said “Jew them down” during a brief discussion Tuesday about a pair of $1 leases state agencies are receiving for space they require in Graves County, which was devastated by tornadoes in December.
Courier Journal Article
Perhaps things like this are why Critical Race Theory should be taught in our schools, businesses, government entities, and so on. Perhaps we’ve been trying to tell these lawmakers that harm is caused by racism, regardless of intention. Perhaps they’ll start listening now? I doubt it. We continue to let them off too easily, reelect them, and allow them to continue the harm.
The article goes on to say,
“This term has caused express harm not only for generations and not only around the world, but here at home,” Litvin said. “Repercussions that our community still feel.”
Litvin said he spoke with both Walker and Thomas in the wake of their comments.
“I met with members of (legislative) leadership as well as Sen. Girdler and Rep. Thomas,” he said. “The fact that so many don’t understand Jewish history in this commonwealth … I think it was, in a way, a great opportunity for education. Both men professed that it is certainly not in their beliefs to be hateful. They didn’t intend to offend. They didn’t understand the ramifications of that term.”
He said he expects neither man will use the phrase again.
Courier Journal Article
Now, I ask you, when a slight like this happens to the Black community, do the lawmakers acknowledge the mistake and potential harm?
Our own Democratic US Congressman did not. John Yarmuth, a Jewish man, used some incredibly racist language to discredit KY House Rep. Attica Scott, a progressive Black woman who was vying for the seat he was vacating after 15 years. He admitted he wanted to “protect the seat” (he said from Republicans, but his actions said differently) so he endorsed another milquetoast white man, Morgan McGarvey because (we think) corporate Dems think a white man is more “electable”. If this had been a state-wide race, we might have understood (even if we disagreed, go Charles Booker!), but this was a race that would be determined entirely by Louisville voters. Such a disappointment.
We blogged about it:
When movement leader K.A. Owens sent an email to Yarmuth expressing disappointment and explaining the historically significant context of such harmful words, he doubled down in his denial.
When Attica Scott lamented how zero Black leaders had been elected by her own Democratic party to state-wide office relative to the Republicans, who had elected two, my school board member, #DarkMoneyDem James Craig awoke from his coma to respond with, “we noticed that this week” or some such white noise, but further went on to alienate the conservatives he’s spent the last four years courting