Attorney General and aging, senile Hobbit Jeff Sessions is a man who is really surprised you knew about that meeting with the Russian Ambassador…
— Heisenberg Report (@heisenbergrpt) June 14, 2017
On Tuesday, Sessions talked to lawmakers about colluding with the Kremlin to sway the US election in Donald Trump’s favor. He was not, as we discussed in great detail yesterday afternoon, very forthcoming.
As you’re probably aware, Sessions has a rather “checkered” past.
Because we don’t want to risk diluting the punchline, we’ll spare you the whole backstory, but suffice to say Jeff is a known bigot. As in: Jeff is a notorious racist.
You’ll recall that Sessions was confirmed as Attorney General earlier this year much to the chagrin of folks like Elizabeth Warren, who in February was basically told to “shut the fuck up” when she tried to read a letter penned by Coretta Scott King (who in 1986 accused Sessions of “using the awesome powers of his office in a shabby attempt to intimidate and frighten elderly black voters”) on the Senate floor.
In short, Jeff hasn’t had the best year, despite being elevated to an office he has absolutely no business occupying.
Things got worse for Jeff in April when, in a bungled attempt to express his incredulity at the judiciary’s unwillingness to let Trump get away with an unconstitutional travel ban, Sessions seemed to suggest that he didn’t know Hawaii is a state. One Senator was kind enough to remind him:
Hey Jeff Sessions, this #IslandinthePacific has been the 50th state for going on 58 years. And we won’t succumb to your dog whistle politics
— Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) April 20, 2017
Well anyway, given that Sessions is likely to face even more scrutiny going forward with regard to what roll he played in Moscow’s efforts to meddle in the election, we thought this was as good a time as any to present the following brief story about the time Ronald Reagan nominated Sessions for federal judge.
Note that this is only a short excerpt from a much longer piece which you’re (strongly) encouraged to review.
Enjoy…
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Via WaPo
In 1986, President Ronald Reagan nominated Sessions for federal judge. Senators grilled Sessions over charges of racial insensitivity and prejudice, and heard testimony from 21 witnesses over 19 hours.
Sessions was rejected, based on his comments on race and his role in prosecuting a voter fraud case against black civil rights activists in Alabama. The key testimony came from former assistant U.S. attorney Thomas Figures, the only black assistant U.S. attorney in Alabama at the time. (He died in January 2015.)
We took a look at the comments that were attributed to Sessions (marked in bold), and what he said about them in response.
“Mr. Figures specifically advised us that Mr. Sessions had referred to him as ‘boy’ during the period that Mr. Figures served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney.” – John Crump, executive director of National Bar Association, referring to the organization’s interview with Figures about Sessions.
Sessions rejected this allegation:
“I was also flabbergasted to hear Mr. Figures say that he was regularly called ‘boy’ in my office. He said I called him this, twice. I state categorically that I have never called Mr. Figures ‘boy.’ … ‘Boy’ is a reprehensible term to use to describe a black man in the South. Because of the history of that term, I have never used the word ‘boy’ to describe a black, nor would I tolerate it in my office.”
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So Jeff Sessions, when asked about allegations that he referred to an Assistant U.S. Attorney as “boy,” actually defended himself by assuring everyone that he would never refer to “a black” that way.
Let that sink in. He literally said “boy” is a “reprehensible” way to describe “a black.”
That’s like saying: “slant-eyed bastard” is a reprehensible way to describe “a chink,” and I would never tolerate it in my office.
That’s how deeply ingrained Jeff’s racist tendencies are – he doesn’t even understand how patently absurd that is.
That’s your Attorney General, ladies and gentlemen.
Big h/t to Chloe Newsom for the tip on this one:
https://twitter.com/ChloesThinking/status/874791537200177152
https://twitter.com/ChloesThinking/status/874794587306434560
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This racist bigot needs to move back into his tree trunk and bake me some cookies.
– Murphy
He probably just needs a hug, like all racists and bigots.
Why is calling a black man ‘a black man’ so wrong?
read it again. the “man” is left out the second time he says it. if you have any African American friends, I strongly advise you not to refer to them as “a black”
Very true, I missed it the second time.
world of difference…. I was speaking to a total stranger the other day…. we were having a normal type conversation about nothing in particular. A black man walked by carrying a vase of flowers. My stranger friend said wonder if he works for a florist or works here? I said I have not seen him around here. He said ‘when I see a black carrying flowers I think he is the delivery man’…… I knew immediately he was a racist pig and smiled and walked away, no words spoken, just walked away. He could just as easily have said ‘when I see a black man carrying flowers….’ and I would have not been as disgusted as I was but I still would have thought it was racist in that he still only saw the black man as ‘the help’ and he could have just as easily been the owner of the flower shop. It’s all dangerous territory! My mother (RIP) would only say things like, ‘my black neighbor’ as opposed to ‘my neighbor Janet’ – she swears she was not racist and got angry if it was pointed out ……… but she was known as ‘the bigot next door’!
-Murphy
It’s odd you used the ‘I think he is a delivery man’ in this context yet acknowledge that it’s racist in itself for a different reason. Personally I’d think the ‘help’ aspect is worse. Calling someone ‘a black’ sounds like something a retarded redneck who’s never a black person would say.
Mr Watts, I am not sure you read my comment in it’s entirety. I quoted a person who was speaking to me and that was – – He said ‘when I see a black carrying flowers I think he is the delivery man’… — and yes I did point out I think automatically assuming he must have been the delivery man was somewhat racist as he could have been the owner of the flower shop. THEN when I wrote — only saw the black man as ‘the help’ and he could have just as easily been the owner of the flower shop. ‘the help’ was marked to infer it was his way of thinking, not mine! And I agree those words come off as racist, which was my whole point! And to make an additional point, he saw nothing wrong with his comment and probably did not mean it the way it was taken. I am aware that people of a ‘certain age’ tend to not understand the difference in today’s racist language was not necessarily considered racist when they were growing up. The man I was speaking with was somewhere in his 80’s. (as was my mother!) Did you see the movie “The Help” – it was incredibly well done! Oh, and I cannot resist one more note; the word retarded is scorned in today’s social circles. I won’t mention that you seem to have left out a word in your sentence.
– Murphy