GOP Lawmaker Asks If ‘Colored Population’ Are More Likely To Get COVID Because Of Poor Hygiene
They aren't even trying to hide their racism anymore.
Republican Ohio state Sen. Steve Huffman revealed his true “colors” this week when he asked if the “colored population” was more likely to get COVID-19 because they don’t wash their hands properly.
The question was posed at a Senate Health Committee hearing earlier this week to determine whether Ohio should declare racism a public health crisis.
Huffman, who is an emergency room physician, asked, “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 just be maybe the explanation of why there’s a higher incidence?”
Director of the Ohio Commission on Minority Health Angela Dawson—who also happens to be a black woman—replied to Huffman, saying, “That is not the opinion of leading medical experts in this country,” and later added later adding: “Do all populations need to wash their hands? Absolutely, sir, but that is not where you are going to find the variance and the rationale for why these populations are more vulnerable.”
Huffman doubled-down when a reporter from The Washington Post called to interview him about his racist comments. He told the reporter that his language was not meant to be derogatory. He said phrases like “people of color” and “colored population were similar and then Huffman said, “People of color would have been better, but they seem to be interchangeable.”
When he was contacted by the Columbus Dispatch about the comments, Huffman said, “I was trying to focus on why COVID-19 affects people of color at a higher rate since we really do not know all the reasons.”
Rashawn Ray, an Associate Professor of Sociology a David M. Rubenstein Fellow in Governance Studies at The Brookings Institution says in part that black people are more likely to contract the coronavirus because they make up a huge part of the essential workforce. He also cited climate playing a role as black neighborhoods are more likely to be exposed to pollutants and toxins.
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Nutzie