U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) speaks to reporters in the Rayburn House Office Building on December 13, 2023, in Washington, D.C. | Source: Kevin Dietsch / Getty
On Sunday, Rep. Jasmine Crockett defended calling Marjorie Taylor Greene racist after Greene commented on her personal appearance on the House floor, which, of course, led to Crockett’s viral moment in which she indirectly called Greene a “bleach blonde, bad built, butch body.” (There was an additional B-word that Black people on social media have decided was silent—but we know it was there.)
“MAGA has historically been on social media doing the things where they’re saying, ‘Oh, she’s Black with lashes and nails and hair, and so she’s ghetto,’” Crockett told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “It is buying into a racist trope.”
Crockett is 100% right, of course. Greene’s comment about her “fake eyelashes” is exactly the kind of insult that gets reserved for Black women. False eyelashes, weives, long fingernails—all things that are associated with “ghetto” Black women and often used to demean them regardless of how hard millions of white women work to emulate the same styles.
White people won’t admit to the obvious dog-whistling and will gaslight us to death by claiming we’re just “playing the race card,” but all one would need to do is to go on X and type the words “Jasmine Crockett” and “ghetto” into the search bar, and you will see endless posts from white conservatives (and their pet Blacky-lackeys like Lavern Spicer) pulling out every anti-Black stereotype in the Book of Bleached Blonde, Bad-Built Bigots to attack Crockett while ignoring the glaring fact that it was Greene’s behavior that turned the committee meeting into a cut scene from a reality TV show.
White people are also referring to Crockett as a “DEI hire” despite the fact that she’s an elected official, which only proves that “DEI” has effectively become the new n-word.
But their use of the word “ghetto” is equally telling. After all, they have certainly all seen the footage of Greene and Rep. Lauren Boebert behaving at Joe Biden’s State of the Union address like they were ringside at a WWE match. But that wasn’t “ghetto.”
We have also seen Greene and Boebert beefing and squaring off against each other on the House floor in an incident that included Boebert reportedly calling Greene a “little b*tch” during the session and Greene calling Boebert the same in a separate interview. Neither one of them was called “ghetto” by anyone in the MAGA world who is currently placing that label on Crockett. They also didn’t refer to MTG as such when she was chasing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez down the Capitol Hill steps while loudly taunting and harassing her, which she did with at least one person who reportedly participated in the Jan. 6 Caucasian Ghetto Attack on the same building a couple of years later.
Hell, white people are even calling the manner of speech Crockett was using “ghetto” when she raised her voice above the ruckus in the House to ask for “clarity” on where the line was in regard to acceptable attacks on other members of Congress. Truthfully, all she did was use a hint of common Black vernacular as she spoke while being assertive and speaking her mind—which is all it really takes for white fragility to devolve into full-on anti-Black bigotry.
Crockett didn’t sound inarticulate or uneducated when she expressed her frustration at Republicans being dismissive of Greene’s juvenile behavior. Crockett just sounded Black, which, to racist whites, will always translate as “ghetto.” That’s why they look past the observable fact that Greene is the person who started the House drama by behaving like a loud, intentionally disruptive, petulant child, which has been the role she has played in Congress for as long as we have known her name.
Crockett, by comparison, is far more composed and in line with what is typically considered proper decorum for a public official, but she doesn’t have the complexion for “ghetto” identity protection, so she wouldn’t be able to get away with a fraction of Greene’s ratchet shenanigans without being degraded.
And that’s the reality of being a Black person, and particularly a Black woman, in America.
SEE ALSO:
Jasmine Crockett’s ‘Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Body’ Roast Inspires Songs Mocking MTG
