Comments | ontd_political: GOP congressman uses slur to describe farm workers

chaya in ontd_political

GOP congressman uses slur to describe farm workers

Mar 29, 2013 10:27

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 ( Read more... )

race / racism, immigration, alaska

Comments 54

(The comment has been removed)

astridmyrna March 29 2013, 15:23:49 UTC

Welcome to LA! :D

vulturoso March 29 2013, 17:28:09 UTC

My Hispanic boyfriend likes to joke about how sweaty he gets by calling himself a wetback. But he thinks this Congressman is a douchebag.

(The comment has been removed)

chaya March 29 2013, 15:13:53 UTC

It is from ElfQuest, which is my nostalgic happy place! It's almost all online now, too.

girly123 March 29 2013, 18:35:16 UTC

(As a fellow Elfquest nerd...how do you feel about the coloring in the online version? I feel like it was way better in the printed ones. :c )

chaya March 29 2013, 18:37:17 UTC

(I have a lot of feels about the new digitally-drawn stuff, if that's what you're referring to - it's not nearly as unique or beautiful as the hand-drawn work - and the scans of the old stuff, if that's what you mean, are not at all high res and do not reflect how gorgeous the originals are. That said, both are free online so it's hard to complain.)

Thread 15

yesthatnagia March 29 2013, 15:16:40 UTC

So, the GOP re-branding is going well, I see.

thecityofdis March 29 2013, 15:55:47 UTC

~OUTREACH!~

crossfire March 29 2013, 16:00:15 UTC

lol

paksenarrion2 March 31 2013, 05:42:44 UTC

OMG, I both love and am simultaneously terrified by your icon.

Hush is hands down my favorite Buffy ep

Thread 11

spyral_path March 29 2013, 15:26:55 UTC

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 March 29 2013, 18:50:10 UTC

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 March 30 2013, 01:58:16 UTC

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 March 30 2013, 04:33:50 UTC

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.

Thread 5

wikilobbying March 29 2013, 16:06:57 UTC

that's some impressive backpeddling but you're still full of shit, don.