GOP congressman uses slur to describe farm workers

[chaya]

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Republican U.S. Rep. Don Young of Alaska says he "meant no disrespect" by a term he used to describe migrant workers during a wide-ranging interview

Comments

[spyral_path]

Don Young is much older than I am but I've been hearing the term wetback thrown around as a slur or insult my entire life and I don't believe it was ever anything else. I can't believe he was not aware of its meaning.

[keestone]

Yup, pretty sure it's never been anything but a slur. His backpedaling does not convince.

(And now I've got the racist slurs discussion scene from Clerks II running through my head.)

[cinnamontoast]

You're right. I have never heard it as anything but a slur either. According to Wiki, Young was born in 1933. But even for a bubble-insulated GOP Congressman from Alaska, age isn't an excuse for not knowing.

(edit: took out something that didn't make sense)

[spyral_path]

He grew up in California and was using the word "wetbacks" to refer to people hired to pick tomatoes on his father's farm, which gives him even less of an excuse.

[cinnamontoast]

I'm kinda thinking that we're moving toward "There is no excuse."

Well, he's a complete asshat. But that's not an excuse. It's more a state of being.