Republican Arizona Rep. Eli Crane sparked major backlash from liberals for referring to black people as “colored people.”
Crane made the remarks on the House floor Thursday while debating a National Defense Authorization Act amendment that would prohibit the Defense Department from considering race, sex, religion or political ideology in its recruiting and promotion choices. The bill passed by a narrow majority Friday.
“My amendment has nothing to do with whether or not colored people or Black people or anybody can serve,” Crane said during the debate. “It has nothing to do with any of that stuff.” (RELATED: Christian College Fires Gay Soccer Coach Over Social Media Posts)
“I’m going to tell you guys this right now: You can keep playing around these games with diversity, equity and inclusion. But there are some real threats out there. And if we keep messing around and we keep lowering our standards, it’s not going to be good,” he continued.
Democratic Ohio Rep. Joyce Beatty, who formerly served as chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, shot back at Crane’s language choice.
“I find it offensive and very inappropriate,” Beatty said. “I am asking for unanimous consent to take down the words of referring to me or any of my colleagues as ‘colored people.’”
Democrat Joyce Beatty asked for Eli Crane’s comments to be struck from the record after he referred to minorities as “colored people.” pic.twitter.com/IJL9ydlaBJ
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) July 13, 2023
Crane then asked that his comments be amended for the record to “people of color.” Beatty insisted they be stricken from the record entirely, a motion that passed with unanimous consent.
“In a heated floor debate on my amendment that would prohibit discrimination on the color of one’s skin in the Armed Forces, I misspoke,” Crane later said in a statement, according to ABC. “Every one of us is made in the image of God and created equal.”
“This is a shameful moment on the House floor,” The Black Caucus wrote.
“This just happened on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. A House Republican just referred to Black Americans serving in our military as ‘colored people.’ In 2023,” Democratic Virginia Rep. Don Beyer said.
Rep. Beatty also doubled down on her criticism, saying she will “not tolerate such racist and repugnant words in the House Chamber or anywhere in the Congress.”
“So that happened in the year of our Lord 2023,” MSNBC host Joy Reid said Thursday night in reaction to the clip.