One thing about white people: If they don’t have anything else, they have the nerve.
You might remember Republican Ohio State Sen. Stephen Huffman, who, last year, suggested that Black people are disproportionately vulnerable to COVID-19 infection because our hygiene practices are lacking in comparison to that of our white counterparts—who may or may not wash their legs on a regular basis. Well, that guy’s cousin, who is also a state senator, just tapped him to lead the state Senate’s health panel, CNN reports.
As The Root previously reported, Huffman asked a racist-ass question during a state Senate Health Committee hearing on why Black people are disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
“I understand African Americans have a higher incidence of chronic conditions and that makes them more susceptible to death from COVID,” Huffman said. “But why does it not make them more susceptible just to get COVID? Could it just be that African Americans or the colored population do not wash their hands as well as other groups? Or wear a mask? Or do not socially distance themselves? Could that be the explanation for why the higher incidence?”
I’m immediately reminded of how The Root’s Stephen Crockett cracked me up in expressing his initial response to the above quote:
He didn’t do that.
I know this Ohio state lawmaker didn’t fix his thin-lips to imply that...
Ohhhh lawd, I can’t even type as the spirit of my ancestors is burning through me chanting, “We don’t fuck with y’all potlucks!”
I’m going to have to chant my way through this one, but I know good and goddamn well that this obese white mass of “fuck y’all mean y’all don’t wash your legs?” did not, in Crispus Attucks’ America, in the year of our lord and “You about to lose yo job,” fix his mouth to say that the “colored population” might be hit harder by the coronavirus because they “don’t wash their hands as well as other groups” during a hearing on whether to declare racism a public health crisis.
Besides the fact that Huffman referred to Black people as “colored” in the 21st century, he really tried to call us all musty negroes who don’t wash our asses like white people don’t stop washing their hair until it grows roots and then call them shits locs. Like wypipo ain’t out here wiping their bare asses with bars of soap, which they then rub on their faces because they don’t believe in washcloths. (That’s what I heard, anyway.)
And masks, my nigga? MASKS?
I didn’t spend damn near all of last year writing about white people’s anti-mask revolution just for Huffman to act like we’re the ones in the streets protesting face-covering mandates.
Anyway, according to CNN, Huffman was appointed to his new position on the state’s health panel by his cousin, Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman. Needless to say, Black officials in Ohio aren’t happy.
“Sen. Huffman has shown he is unable to view the health concerns of Black Ohioans in an unbiased and fact-based manner, therefore leaving him unqualified to serve as committee chair,” Rep. Catherine Ingram (D) wrote in a statement. “Serving as chair would give the senator the ability to decide which bills make it to the floor and potentially codify racial prejudice into law.”
Tony Bishop, executive director of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus, said Thursday that the group demands a committee leader who “understands and can help enact health policy that addresses inequities in our state without political influence.” Of course, Bishop was also far kinder than he needed to be in saying that if Huffman wasn’t replaced, he expects him to “use his position to improve the health of Ohio’s African American population,” by working with the caucus in passing legislation aimed at addressing racial health disparities.
“Although the senator’s comments were deeply offensive, we hope that he has learned from his mistake and moves to right the systemic wrongs that are being perpetrated in the state of Ohio,” Bishop told the Columbus Dispatch.
Yeah, he’s better than me. I’ve seen way too many white men go straight from the public restroom stall to the exit without even thinking about stopping by the sink to put up with Huffman’s white nonsense.
The nerve, I tell ya.