Latest news with #F.A.M.E.Ministries
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Brazen White GOP Rep Refuses to Apologize for Racial Insult
A white GOP congresswoman who called Texas Rep. Al Green 'boy' didn't apologize for her comment Tuesday and instead claimed that the senior Black lawmaker is 'blowing it out of proportion.' More than 24 hours after an interview clip of her using the word in reference to Green gained attention, Tennessee Rep. Diana Harshbarger finally responded on social media. 'The weather is warming up, so naturally, the snowflakes are starting to melt!' Harshbarger wrote on X, reposting the clip of her interview with Tennessee religious group F.A.M.E. Ministries. 'I was discussing one of my colleague's [sic] erratic behavior during President Trump's Joint Address, and now he—along with the rest of the Radical Left—is blowing it out of proportion in a desperate attempt to get attention,' she went on. 'BOY oh boy, you just can't catch a break between the FAKE NEWS and young men wielding canes!' Green, who is 77, held a press conference in Texas earlier Tuesday alongside other community leaders in which he noted his personal experience with such racially coded language. 'This is especially sensitive for me because, as a child, I remember my father being stopped by a peace officer, and the officer referred to my father as 'boy.' And my mother was 'girl.' And it wasn't just that one time. It was the way society addressed people of color who were of African ancestry at the time,' Green said. 'It wasn't said to indicate that you were youthful. It was said to demean, to degrade, to denigrate. It was said such that you would know your place in society, and it was something that you would have said immediately to you.' Green never mentioned Harshbarger by name, but noted that due to her status and the fact that her comments came during an interview, the situation is 'different' than if a layperson used the word to him on the street. Congressman Al Green Holds Press Conference to Address Controversial Slur by a Colleague Calling Him "Boy," and Referring to His Cane as a Weapon, along with the Use of an LGBTQ+ Slur Congressman Al Green Holds Press Conference to Address Controversial Slur by a Colleague Calling Him "Boy," and Referring to His Cane as a Weapon, along with the Use of an LGBTQ+ Slur Posted by Rep. Al Green on Tuesday, April 22, 2025 'This is an attempt to normalize, whether it's done wittingly or unwittingly, this type of slur, and it's something that we cannot tolerate,' he said. 'Unfortunately, the president has set the tone and tenor, and unfortunately the tone and tenor starts at the top and it meanders its way down,' he added. 'We have to stop it and stop it now.' As for Harshbarger's accusation during her interview that Green's cane is 'not real,' and could even contain a weapon, Green showed otherwise. 'There are some who believe that this cane has a weapon in it. I'm almost reluctant to say that it doesn't, to be quite honest,' he said, chuckling, 'because there is some degree of safety in knowing that people might not bother to say some things or do some things that are ugly if they think I am armed.' Green then invited a member of the press to inspect his cane. The reporter twisted at the base and the handle, revealing no secret compartment for weapons. 'I am ambulatory, but I find that it is quite beneficial when I'm climbing stairs,' Green explained. 'It does give me some degree of stability that I need from time to time.' Green said he would be retiring the item and replacing it with another, similar-looking cane he had also brought to the press conference. Harshbarger isn't the only Republican member of Congress to accuse Green on not needing his cane. Rep. Lauren Boebert did so while calling the device a 'pimp cane'—another racially coded comment.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
White GOP Rep Slammed For Referring To Al Green As 'Boy' — And A Race Expert Would Like A Word
Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.) has come under fire for referring to Rep. Al Green as 'boy' during a recent interview where she was harshly criticizing him. The congresswoman had joined a sit-down conversation with a Christian media platform called F.A.M.E. Ministries to discuss faith and politics last week. Toward the end of the nearly 40-minute conversation posted on YouTube, Harshbarger talked about members of Congress, saying there are 'good' and 'Godly' people in Congress, like her, and that she works to block out the 'noise' while on the job. The host later asked about members not getting along, before he referenced President Donald Trump's address to Congress in March, and Democrats holding up signs and exercising other forms of protest against the administration. Harshbarger then mentioned Green, who was escorted from the House chamber after he rose from his seat, held up his cane and yelled in protest as Trump spoke: 'You have no mandate to cut Medicaid!' 'Al Green was over here with his cane,' Harshbarger said as she waved her arm. 'And I was like, 'Gosh dangit, boy, put that' — he does not need that cane. That cane is a prop. I swear it's not real.' She then said that one of her colleagues said: 'Screw the gold part off of it, see if there's a gun in there.' 'I don't know about that man,' Harshbarger continued. 'He's just ... weird Al.' Harshbarger, who is white, was criticizedon X, formerly Twitter, for referring to Green — a Black adult 77-year-old man — as 'boy,' given the word's racist connotation and history in the U.S. During slavery, in the Jim Crow era and beyond, white people would call Black men, regardless of their age, 'boy,' as way to dehumanize and humiliate them. Some civil rights leaders have even referred to the term as a 'close cousin' of the N-word. A representative for Harshbarger did not immediately return a request for comment. Shaun Harper, a professor of public policy, education and business at the University of Southern California, thinks it's embarrassing for Harshbarger that she used such an offensive loaded term as a public leader. 'Hopefully, Harshbarger isn't running around Tennessee calling the Black men who voted for her and others whom she's been elected to serve 'boy,'' Harper, an expert in racial equity, told HuffPost. 'If so, perhaps they should think twice before reelecting someone who knows so little about expressions that were used to denigrate and terrorize many of their fathers and grandfathers in prior eras.' Trump has ordered K-12 schools using federal money to end any diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. He's also ordered U.S. schools to stop teaching what he calls 'critical race theory.' Harper said that these legislative actions on the teaching of America's racial past could cause many school-aged children today to 'transition into adulthood without ever being taught why calling a Black man 'boy' is offensive — at times racist.' 'If they don't learn this at school or at home, how else will they know?' he said. And Harper also emphasized that Harshbarger's comments casting doubt on Green's use of a cane were ableist — and riddled with implicit bias. 'Millions of Americans, young and old, rely on canes for mobility,' he said. 'Does Harshbarger believe they all are using them for props, or does she only apply such doubt to older Black men?' Speaking about the congresswoman's quip about a gun being in Green's cane, Harper said that it's important to understand how implicit bias works — associating Green with a gun can expose racial stereotypes and negative associations about Black men, 'which is beyond racist,' he said. 'Though far from harmless, implicit bias is often unconscious and accidental,' he said. Head Of Trump's Alma Mater Adds Name To Criticism Of White House Attacks On Universities Democrats Demand Answers From Top Law Firms That Caved To Trump's Wishes Rep. Byron Donalds Clashes With Town Hall Crowd As He Defends Trump's Agenda
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
White Tennessee GOP rep calls Texas Democrat Al Green, 77, ‘boy' in putdown
A white Republican congresswoman referred to a Black colleague 12 years her senior as "boy" — while calling LGBT+ people "fairies' in a startling interview on a Christian podcast. In the interview with a local Christian group last week, Tennessee representative Diana Harshbarger joked about 77-year-old Texas Democrat Al Green in terms that civil rights experts have long considered effectively a racial slur. Green made headlines in March when he protested against Republicans' reported plans to cut Medicaid by pointing his cane and shouting "you have no mandate!" during Donald Trump's address to Congress. Wisecracking about the incident on the Christian group F.A.M.E. Ministries podcast, Harshbarger said: "Al Green was over here with his cane, and I'm like: 'Gosh dang it, boy! Put that' — He does not need that cane,' she added, turning to the host. 'That cane is a prop. I swear it's not real.' She implied that Green could have been hiding a weapon in it. Harshbarger added: "And I'm wondering ... one of my colleagues said, 'Screw [off] the gold part of that, see if there's a gun in there'. I'm like, I don't know about that man. He's just weird Al." Her presumably Christian interviewer laughed uproariously throughout the snide commentary in the clip first posted by Heartland Signal on X Monday.. She then went after the Biden administration's support for LGBT+ rights, saying: "Listen, I never saw so many fairies in the White House! Dancing around — I don't know where they got 'em.' But 'look, my job is to love 'em into the love of Christ, and I gotta watch what I say,' she added, after it was too late. The Independent has contacted Harshbarger's office for further comment. Democratic Georgia state senate candidate Jerrold Dagen tweeted the clip and called on House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) to call for a censure vote against Harshbarger. Her remarks about Green mirror fellow Republican Lauren Boebert's bizarre description of his walking aid as a "pimp cane,' which led some Democrats to move that she be censured for racism. Green was removed from the chamber during his protest and later censured by the Republican-controlled House, with ten Democrats also voting in favor of the resolution. For many decades "boy" has been a common epithet used to belittle Black men in the South. Martin Luther King Jr, in his Letter from Birmingham Jail, described it as one of the daily "humiliations" heaped upon Black people, and the Supreme Court has acknowledged that the word can function as a slur. "If not a proxy for 'n*****,' it is at the very least a close cousin," wrote a group of civil rights experts in an amicus brief for a workplace discrimination lawsuit that partly hinged on the meaning of the term in context. "Fairy' is a long-time slur for queer men that has largely been reclaimed by the LGBT+ community. Harshbarger's pharmacist husband, Robert Harshbarger, pleaded guilty in 2013 to federal charges of distributing misbranded drugs from China to kidney-dialysis patients. He was sentenced to 4 years in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $848,504 and a $25,000 criminal fine, in addition to forfeiting $425,000 in cash.
The Independent
22-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
White Tennessee GOP rep calls Texas Democrat Al Green, 77, ‘boy' in putdown
A white Republican congresswoman referred to a Black colleague 12 years her senior as "boy" — while calling LGBT+ people "fairies' in a startling interview on a Christian podcast. In the interview with a local Christian group last week, Tennessee representative Diana Harshbarger joked about 77-year-old Texas Democrat Al Green in terms that civil rights experts have long considered effectively a racial slur. Green made headlines in March when he protested against Republicans' reported plans to cut Medicaid by pointing his cane and shouting "you have no mandate!" during Donald Trump's address to Congress. Wisecracking about the incident on the Christian group F.A.M.E. Ministries podcast, Harshbarger said: "Al Green was over here with his cane, and I'm like: ' Gosh dang it, boy! Put that' — He does not need that cane,' she added, turning to the host. 'That cane is a prop. I swear it's not real.' She implied that Green could have been hiding a weapon in it. Harshbarger added: "And I'm wondering ... one of my colleagues said, 'Screw [off] the gold part of that, see if there's a gun in there'. I'm like, I don't know about that man. He's just weird Al." Her presumably Christian interviewer laughed uproariously throughout the snide commentary in the clip first posted by Heartland Signal on X Monday.. She then went after the Biden administration's support for LGBT+ rights, saying: "Listen, I never saw so many fairies in the White House! Dancing around — I don't know where they got 'em.' But 'look, my job is to love 'em into the love of Christ, and I gotta watch what I say,' she added, after it was too late. The Independent has contacted Harshbarger's office for further comment. Democratic Georgia state senate candidate Jerrold Dagen tweeted the clip and called on House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) to call for a censure vote against Harshbarger. Her remarks about Green mirror fellow Republican Lauren Boebert's bizarre description of his walking aid as a "pimp cane,' which led some Democrats to move that she be censured for racism. Green was removed from the chamber during his protest and later censured by the Republican-controlled House, with ten Democrats also voting in favor of the resolution. For many decades "boy" has been a common epithet used to belittle Black men in the South. Martin Luther King Jr, in his Letter from Birmingham Jail, described it as one of the daily "humiliations" heaped upon Black people, and the Supreme Court has acknowledged that the word can function as a slur. "If not a proxy for 'n*****,' it is at the very least a close cousin," wrote a group of civil rights experts in an amicus brief for a workplace discrimination lawsuit that partly hinged on the meaning of the term in context. "Fairy' is a long-time slur for queer men that has largely been reclaimed by the LGBT+ community. Harshbarger's pharmacist husband, Robert Harshbarger, pleaded guilty in 2013 to federal charges of distributing misbranded drugs from China to kidney-dialysis patients. He was sentenced to 4 years in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $848,504 and a $25,000 criminal fine, in addition to forfeiting $425,000 in cash.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
White GOP Rep Calls 77-Year-Old Black Congressman ‘Boy'
Tennessee Republican Rep. Diana Harshbarger has come under fire for referring to Texas Democrat Al Green, a 77-year-old Black man, as 'boy.' Green generated headlines for interrupting and pointing his cane at President Donald Trump to protest proposed cuts to Medicaid during his annual address to Congress in February, which earned him a censure from the House of Representatives. 'Al Green was over here with his cane and I'm like, 'Gosh dang it, boy,'' Harshbarger said, recalling the moment. 'He does not need that cane. That cane is a prop. I swear it's not real.' The use of 'boy' in reference to a Black man is widely regarded as racially coded (depending, of course, on the speaker and tone of voice). Courts have ruled as such, and civil rights groups have said, 'If not a proxy for 'n----r,' it is at the very least a close cousin.' Harshbarger's remarks came during an interview with Johnson City, Tennessee, Christian group F.A.M.E. Ministries. 'I'm wondering, one of my colleagues said, 'Unscrew the gold part off of it and see if there's a gun in there,'' she continued. 'I'm, like, 'I don't know about that man. He's just Weird Al.'' A representative for Harshbarger did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Green's office also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Harshbarger's remarks echo what some other Republicans said in the days following the Democrat's protest. Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, for instance, not only said Green doesn't need the item, but called it a 'pimp cane'—another racially coded comment.
