jamesglewisf
02-28-2004, 12:09 AM
Assistant Secretary of State Roger Francisco Noriega told Corrine Brown, a black female congresswoman that all blacks "look alike to me."
He later apologized, but where is the outrage among Republicans? Why haven't they called for his resignation? How can a government official get away with such a racist comment nowadays?
Ooops. I got the story wrong. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,112651,00.htmlHouse Rep. Henry Bonilla, a founding member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, has taken back his demand that Rep. Corrine Brown resign her seat in Congress for remarks she made accusing the Bush administration of racism in its Haiti policy.
But even after Bonilla accepted Brown's apology, he said the fact that her comments raised few hackles demonstrates a double standard among Democratic Party members.
"If a Republican had made such derogatory, insulting and discriminatory remarks there would be a firestorm of outrage. The current silence is deafening," Bonilla, R-Texas, said. "If we truly advocate zero tolerance for racism, then we must insist the statement be addressed."
Brown, D-Fla., issued an apology on Thursday for remarks she made a day earlier when she said Hispanics and whites "all look alike to me." She said Republican leaders were "racist" in their policies toward the Caribbean nation, which is almost entirely black, and called the president's representatives "a bunch of white men."
"I sincerely did not mean to offend Secretary Noriega or anyone in the room. Rather, my comments, as they relate to 'white men,' were aimed at the policies of the Bush administration as they pertain to Haiti, which I do consider to be racist," Brown said in a statement on Thursday. Participants in the meeting said Noriega later told Brown: "As a Mexican-American, I deeply resent being called a racist and branded a white man."
Noriega also pointed to Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a Republican member of the delegation who was born in Cuba, and asked whether he appeared to be a white man. Diaz-Balart's brother, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, is also a congressional member from the state.
Brown's response, according to witnesses, was: "You all look alike to me." If that was a Republican who said it, the Democrats would have called for his resignation. It would have ruined his career, and it would have really hurt the Republican party as a whole.
How come this is not a bigger issue?
It's amazing that she was calling the Bush administration a bunch of racists, and then she made those comments.
He later apologized, but where is the outrage among Republicans? Why haven't they called for his resignation? How can a government official get away with such a racist comment nowadays?
Ooops. I got the story wrong. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,112651,00.htmlHouse Rep. Henry Bonilla, a founding member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, has taken back his demand that Rep. Corrine Brown resign her seat in Congress for remarks she made accusing the Bush administration of racism in its Haiti policy.
But even after Bonilla accepted Brown's apology, he said the fact that her comments raised few hackles demonstrates a double standard among Democratic Party members.
"If a Republican had made such derogatory, insulting and discriminatory remarks there would be a firestorm of outrage. The current silence is deafening," Bonilla, R-Texas, said. "If we truly advocate zero tolerance for racism, then we must insist the statement be addressed."
Brown, D-Fla., issued an apology on Thursday for remarks she made a day earlier when she said Hispanics and whites "all look alike to me." She said Republican leaders were "racist" in their policies toward the Caribbean nation, which is almost entirely black, and called the president's representatives "a bunch of white men."
"I sincerely did not mean to offend Secretary Noriega or anyone in the room. Rather, my comments, as they relate to 'white men,' were aimed at the policies of the Bush administration as they pertain to Haiti, which I do consider to be racist," Brown said in a statement on Thursday. Participants in the meeting said Noriega later told Brown: "As a Mexican-American, I deeply resent being called a racist and branded a white man."
Noriega also pointed to Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a Republican member of the delegation who was born in Cuba, and asked whether he appeared to be a white man. Diaz-Balart's brother, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, is also a congressional member from the state.
Brown's response, according to witnesses, was: "You all look alike to me." If that was a Republican who said it, the Democrats would have called for his resignation. It would have ruined his career, and it would have really hurt the Republican party as a whole.
How come this is not a bigger issue?
It's amazing that she was calling the Bush administration a bunch of racists, and then she made those comments.