‘Cotton picking’: US lawmaker criticized for Jeffries racism | Race Story Story

Office of Hakeem Jeffriesthe top Democrat in the United States House of Representatives, has issued a scathing statement criticizing a fellow lawmaker who accepted a racist comment about him.

Tuesday’s comments came just days after U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans appeared on national television, where she discussed the ongoing battle for control of the government.

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On the show, host Rich Herrera criticized Jeffries, who is from New York, for helping to try to redraw the congressional map in Virginia.

Herrera said Jeffries should move to Virginia and run for public office, or “take your hands off Virginia”.

Ditto, the Republican replied: “That’s right. “Yes. Yes to that.”

The term “cotton picking” is often seen as a racist term in the US, where enslaved blacks were used as labor on southern cotton plantations until the mid-1800s.

Kiggans later refused to accept Herrera’s claims. He said he instead agrees with many of the views about the Democrats’ efforts to reorganize the government.

“A broadcaster shouldn’t have used that language and I don’t – and I don’t condone it,” he said.

“It was clear to anyone listening that I was in favor of Hakeem Jeffries leaving Virginia.”

However, Jeffries’ spokeswoman, Christie Stephenson, criticized Kiggans on Tuesday.

“Extremists who condone vile, hateful and racist language are deplorable,” Stephenson said.

“Jen Kiggans has no interest in our country’s progress toward multiracial democracy and clearly wants to return to the Jim Crow days of racial oppression in the South.”

Top Democrats, including US Minority Whip Katherine Clark and California Governor Gavin Newsom, have called on Kiggans to resign.

The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) posted a video clip of the broadcast on Radio X, writing: “Did he agree? Yes.”

The radio interview comes after US President Donald Trump, in February, posted a racist video depicting former President Barack Obama and his wife, former First Lady Michelle Obama, as monkeys.

Tim Scott, the only black Republican senator in the US, condemned the video as “the most racist thing I’ve ever seen”. The video was later removed, with the White House accusing the staffer of posting it to Trump’s account.

The latest development comes amid a nationwide battle to block redistricting, ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Generally, states redraw their maps once every ten years to reflect the latest census results. But last year, the Trump administration asked the Texas legislature to redraw congressional maps to give Republicans a boost in the polls.

Since then, several countries have tried to redraw their maps to benefit one group or another.

In Virginia, voters approved a redrawn map in April that would have increased Democratic-leaning counties. However, the Supreme Court of the state has banned this map. Democrats have appealed to the US Supreme Court to intervene.

Terrorist suppression — or altering electoral maps to achieve political goals — is illegal under US law. But critics have criticized the practice as undemocratic.

Racial discrimination, however, is illegal in the US, and laws like the Voting Rights Act of 1973 have been used to ensure fair representation at the ballot box.

But a decision by the US Supreme Court in late April has weakened how the law can be applied. The Supreme Court struck down a key provision in the Voting Rights Act, which makes it easier to eliminate most black congressional districts, unless there are legitimate grounds for discrimination.

Human rights organizations say such influences cannot be proven. They also say that the decision could be used to reduce the voting power of African Americans, who have lost the history of democracy.

Republican lawmakers in Tennessee, Florida, Alabama and South Carolina have sought to redraw their maps based on the decision.