White Republican Allegedly Tells Black Democrat, 'Shut Up, Boy'
White Louisiana Republican Allegedly Tells Black Democratic Party Official To ‘Shut Up, Boy’
The next time white Republicans — or anyone, for that matter — accuse Black people of being on a “Democratic plantation” because we refuse to vote for the current party of white supremacy, remind them that the gutting of the Voting Rights Act came as a result of a white Republican legal battle to dilute Black voting power. Remind them of how Republicans across red state America immediately began using the Supreme Court decision to eliminate Black voting districts in their states.
And remember the white Louisiana Republican who told a room full of Black people at a legislative redistricting hearing, “Y’all need to shut up” when those Black people got understandably upset over Jim Crow making a quiet return. Also, remember that the Louisiana Republican in question appeared to call a Black party official “boy” during that same hearing.
From the Shreveport Times:
Louisiana Democrats are accusing Republican state Sen. Jay Morris of calling a Black party official “boy” during a racially charged legislative redistricting hearing, though Morris denied using the offensive term.
Democratic Party executive director Dadrius Lanus said Morris told him to “Shut up boy” as the senator from Monroe left the table at which he was providing testimony May 8 on his bill that would redraw Louisiana’s unconstitutional congressional map.
In an interview with USA Today Network, Morris conceded he said, “Y’all need to shut up,” but insisted he did not use the word “boy.” In video and audio from the hearing reviewed by USA Today Network, it doesn’t appear that Morris said “boy” but did tell the crowd to “shut up.”
Indeed, Morris can’t be heard saying “boy” in the video, but Lanus and others say he said it when he was off-mic and walking away, much like President Donald Trump was when he appeared to call Black woman reporter Rachel Scott a “bitch” after blowing up at her for asking a perfectly relevant question about why he’s talking about cleaning pools while his Iran war is draining the wallets of U.S. citizens.
But let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that Morris never called Lanus a “boy.” What we can still see plainly is a crowd of Black people at a Congressional hearing that was visibly upset about the anti-Black gerrymandering going on in their state — which is approximately 31% Black — and got even more visibly upset after a white senator dismissed them by telling them to “shut up” while walking away from them. And with the degree to which those Black people were visibly upset, you almost have to assume a racial epithet was involved.
“The Louisiana Democratic Party strongly condemns the unacceptable and racially charged remarks made by Republican State Sen. Jay Morris during proceedings before the Louisiana State Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee, in which Louisiana Democratic Party Executive Director Dadrius Lanus, a Black man, was told to ‘Shut up boy’”, the state Democratic Party said in a statement. “The use of the word ‘boy’ toward Black men has a long and painful history in America and has often been recognized as racially derogatory, demeaning and offensive. Such language is completely inappropriate under any circumstance, but especially within the chambers of Louisiana’s government where elected officials are expected to conduct themselves with professionalism, dignity and respect.”
Morris responded to the statement by accusing the party of lying “to gin up hatred,” claiming he “simply told the disruptive members of the audience that they need to shut up because they had been so disruptive during the hearing.”
Louisiana Democratic Party Chairman Randal Gaines dismissed Morris’ denial of racism in a statement of his own.
“Sen. Morris, an elected member of our legislature, thinks if he had yelled ‘you all need to shut up’ it would be better,” Gaines said. “It wouldn’t. What Sen. Morris doesn’t understand is that White people have been telling Black folk to ‘shut up’ for over 250 years.” (It’s actually been upwards of 400 years, but whatever.)
Gaines also said his party will submit a formal request to Republican Senate President Cameron Henry to sanction Morris for his comments.
Yeah — that ain’t going to happen. The party of white supremacy isn’t sanctioning anyone over thinly veiled white supremacist language. Let’s be for real.
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