Rick Scott to Black Legislators: "I'm just like you... My dad had a sixth grade eduction!"

Welcome to Post 4 of My Stupid State:


This is a re-post from Kossack appledown.

Governor Rick Scott did not stop at rejecting what he & his bosses at the Tea Party and his communication team now is trying to brand as “Obamarail” (to maintain the indoctrination of the Tea Party faithful) and before whom he presented his budget.

Oh No! Scott went on to insult the 20 black lawmakers at a luncheon, all Democrats, at the mansion Tuesday, Scott saying that he grew up in public housing “just like you” when speaking to the Black Legislators and said he supports diversity, regardless of race, he doesn't believe in quotas and defended his decisions such as cutting funding to workforce education.

Miami NewTimes

I grew up probably in the same situation as you guys,” Rick Scott said yesterday while addressing a group of state legislators. “I started school in public housing. My dad had a sixth-grade education.”

In the same breath Scott went on to further insult the lawmakers with the follwing:

1. That he is ending the state’s support for the only 2 historically black colleges: Florida A&M University and Bethune Cookman University.
   
2. Abolish a state office that helps minority-owned businesses get state contracts
   
3. He will lower unemployment benefits and health care funding for the poor
   
4. He also refused to appoint more minority judges and officials

"If you think I'm going to pick someone who's different from my judicial philosophy, it's not going to happen."

Reid Report

It has been said that Scott is assuming that all blacks grow up poor and their parents are uneducated which upset some of the Lawmakers in the room who comes from all spectrums of life, not just public housing.

Sen. Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, whose mother has a master’s degree, said he was shocked at Scott’s comments at yesterday’s lunch and considered walking out.
“He just assumed because he was sitting with a bunch of black people that we had all grown up in public housing,” Smith said.
Scott is “tremendously disconnected” from the realities of being black or Hispanic in Florida, Smith said.
“He doesn’t see the need for diversity or inclusion,” Smith said. “Any diversity that happens (in his administration) is going to happen by happenstance.

This guy does not stop. He just keeps on giving, so sit back-grab the popcorn and watch him work. He has already lost 30,000 plus jobs by turning down $2.4 billion in federal funds for high speed rail.

Florida cannot recall a Governor, but thanks to Rick Scott, a new recall bill is being proposed (another gift from Gov. Scott).

Bigot refused to marry interracial couple: My phone call to him

This has got to stop:

Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long....

A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have. Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long...

"I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way," Bardwell told the Associated Press on Thursday. "I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else."

Wow, he lets black people use his bathroom...

This justice of the peace refused to marry a couple, one of several he has refused because they were mixed races. Never mind that the Supreme Court struck this practice down back in the 60s with Loving v. Virginia.

Of course, the MSM is not picking this story up either. As a happily married man with a gorgeous black wife, I tend to take this personally.

Several blogs posted where he could be reached, (including a reader here), so I decided to call. Now, I don't believe in calling someone to harrass, calling late, or anything like that. I just felt that someone should educate the poor man and let him know that the amount of pigmentation in the skin is not a good predictor of marriage. It's ridiculous at this day and age people still believe this...but it's disturbing it's from a Justice of the Peace. (Even if it's Louisiana).

His wife answered and I asked to speak to Keith. I could tell that she thought I was someone who knew him and tried to get him but he was unavailable. She asked if she could take a message. I told her to please let her husband know that I have been married to a beautiful black woman for almost two decades and have several well-adjusted, great children. She didn't quite know what to say, her tone changed a bit, and she said allright. I thanked her and hung up.

We were both polite, and she seemed like a nice lady. But her husband is a bigot.