Ohio Senate President Engages in Ethnic, Racial Slurs
Listed in: Other Domestic Policy, NJDC News, Press Releases
Washington, DC: The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported on Sunday that Ohio's new Senate President Doug White (R) used a well-known anti-Jewish slur - to "Jew them down" - prior to Election Day. According to the Plain Dealer, "Before the November election, with White clearly positioned as [former Senate President Dick] Finan's successor, White used the phrase during a fund-raising meeting in the Cleveland area and initially defended its use as little more than harmless banter. 'Hillbillies use certain ways, briar-hoppers use certain ways,' White explained, when asked about the remarks. 'I'm a hillbilly,' he joked. The comments were not said 'in any negative connotation: to be a sound bargainer, to be an effective bargainer - I wish I were a better bargainer.'"
The same article reported that White's history also shows examples of racial insensitivity; the Plain Dealer article also noted that "Former lawmaker Rhine McLin, who is black, reluctantly confirmed that White used to rub her head or shoulder for good luck - a practice that dates back to an old stereotype that rubbing a black person can bring good fortune. McLin said she was offended by the conduct but never complained to White or asked him to stop. 'The problem with that place is you have to pick your battles,' said McLin, now mayor of Dayton. 'You gotta work with these people.' She described White as 'somebody who just doesn't know any better.'"
"Ohio's new Senate President Doug White is the newest member of the 'tin-ear wing' of the Republican Party," said National Jewish Democratic Council Executive Director Ira N. Forman. "These well-known slurs are deeply offensive and wholly unacceptable. Mr. White should know that they hurt - just as they are intended to.
"This problem is increasingly plaguing various leaders of the Republican Party, and such remarks are uttered frequently enough to suggest that they are hardly an occasional slip of the tongue. Rather, they honestly seem to reflect the worldview of those who give voice to them. Such exclusionist, antiquated views make it ever harder for many Americans to support the GOP.
"It is now up to Senator White and his colleagues to firmly condemn this inappropriate behavior and look for ways to demonstrate their leadership, commitment and sensitivity to a racially and ethnically diverse America."
