Ooooh, classy.
Posted on 02/27/2004 7:40:31 AM PST by FFIGHTER
MIAMI — U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown (search) apologized Thursday for remarks she made a day earlier when she said Hispanics and whites "all look alike to me."
Brown made the statement during a Wednesday briefing on Haiti with Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega (search), a Mexican-American, and the Florida congressional delegation. During the meeting, attended by about 30 people, Brown sat across the table from Noriega and launched an attack on President Bush's policy on Haiti (search).
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.
Brown added that she was offended that the meeting on the crisis in Haiti, led by administration officials, "turned into a diatribe rebuking the Haitian government and the Haitian people. I was personally insulted by the anti-Haiti sentiment brought to the table by the State Department and by Republican members of Congress in attendance," she said.
Brown also wrote a letter to Noriega, in which she apologized again "if what I said was construed as a personal affront."
"The State Department delegation that came to meet with us did not include any females or people of color. Given the racial makeup of the people of Haiti, who are 95 percent of African descent, I felt the delegation and the delegation's position were callous and out of touch with the needs (cultural and otherwise) of the Haitian people," she wrote.
After the dressing down, which sent a hush over the hour-long meeting, Noriega responded that he would relay her comments to Secretary of State Colin Powell (search) and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice (search), both high-level African-American members of the Bush administration.
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 (search), 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 (search), is also a congressional member from the state.
Brown's response, according to witnesses, was: "You all look alike to me."
U.S. Rep. Mark Foley (search), a Florida Republican who organized the meeting, called the comments "disappointing."
"To sit there and browbeat this man who is a Mexican-American and call him names, it was inappropriate," Foley said. [snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Isn't that remark, in itself, racist?
She's a Democrat and they are allowed to say anything to acheive their means.
Republicans on the other hand, must say only the PC correct things.
The double standard has been set up a long time ago by our elite (snort) press and media.
Why be upset by changing the rules now.
After all aren't all (R) racist and bigots?
< / sarcasm >
What Corrinne Brown seems to be saying is that "you can't blame Haiti's sh*thole status on skin color." Fair enough.
It's a plain fact that Haiti has been "led" by black men for the entire time. The skin color of the "leaders" of Haiti is probably irrelevant -- the important fact is that the "leaders" of Haiti are, as they always been, guilty of perpetuating Haiti's sh*thole status.
If Ms. Brown is really concerned about Haiti she'd acknowledge that the place is a sh*thole. But instead, she's chosen to make it a race issue. Despicable, but entirely predictable.
Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-TX), a founding member of the Congressional Hispanic Conference, is demanding Brown resign her seat in Congress after her remarks were reported in Roll Call.
"Congresswoman Brown's comments demonstrate a complete lack of ethnic sensitivity," Bonilla said. "This irresponsible statement represents a step backward for race relations. I will not stand by and allow these comments to be made without repercussions."
Brown later issued a statement that said, "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."
Bonilla commented to Roll Call, "An apology without a retraction is an effort to take the political heat off herself without an admission that she was wrong. Representative Brown must recognize that racism is wrong and must retract her racist statement."
So in other words.....The problem in Haiti is a black problem, and only blacks could comprehend the situation, let alone debate how to effectively deal with it.
That is not an "apology." Ugh, how I get tired of these insincere "apologies."
Ooooh, classy.
I'm really curious to know what it is she's calling "racist" about Bush's Haiti policy. I'd also be curious to know how Bush's Haiti policy differs from any other president's Haiti policy.
I'm also yearning to know how she seems not to notice that Haiti has never demonstrated the ability to govern itself for more than a couple of years at a time.... (Save for the glory days of Papa Doc Duvalier and his Tontons Macoutes, which is a great name for a rock band.)
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