Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., used the term “colored people” to refer to Black people during a floor debate on his proposed amendment to a law governing annual military strategy on Thursday, drawing a sharp rebuke from the former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.
According to Crane, who is serving his first term, “My amendment has nothing to do with whether or not colored people, Black people, or anyone else can serve.” It is unrelated to any of that material.
A number of GOP-backed amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act, which the House hopes to enact by the end of the week, were being debated by lawmakers.
Crane said that his amendment would forbid the Defense Department from basing recruitment, training, education, promotion, or retention decisions solely on factors such as race, gender, religion, political beliefs, or “any other ideological concepts.”
The military was never meant to be inclusive, you know. Its diversity is not what makes it strong. Its standards are what give it strength, said 43-year-old war veteran Crane.
“I’m going to tell you people right now that you can: You can keep tinkering with these diversity, equity, and inclusion games. But there are some genuine dangers around. And it won’t be beneficial if we continue to play about and reduce our standards, he said.
On Thursday, Arizona Republican Rep. Eli Crane spoke on the House floor.Credit C-Span
Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, requested that Crane’s use of a pejorative term be taken out of the record as soon as he completed speaking.
Beatty, who presided over the Congressional Black Caucus in the previous Congress, declared, “I find it offensive and very inappropriate.” “I am requesting unanimous approval to remove the words that refer to me or any of my coworkers as colored people.”
In response, Crane demanded that he change his remarks to include “people of color.” But Beatty insisted that the words be taken out of the record. By unanimous agreement, they were taken out.
When prompted to comment on his word choice, Crane stated he “misspoke.”
In a statement, Crane said that he “misspoke” during a contentious floor debate about his amendment, which would forbid racial discrimination in the armed forces. “We were all created equal and in the image of God.”
The 73-year-old Beatty had blasted Crane’s amendment for attempting to “undermine the freedoms for us to learn about one another, for us to hire one another, for us to understand our cultures.”
On Thursday, Ohio representative Joyce Beatty, a Democrat, spoke on the House floor.Credit C-Span
By a vote of 214-210 on Thursday night, the House approved Crane’s amendment.
Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama, refused to admit this week in the Senate that white nationalism is inherently racist.
In response to questions over remarks he made in May that seemed to endorse white nationalists serving in the military, Tuberville emphasized that not all white nationalists are racist during an interview that aired Monday night on CNN.
As an alternative, he said that they are just “people who have a few, probably different beliefs.”
