After the remark, Rep. Eli Crane’s words were immediately stricken from the record.
It appears that Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz. is stuck in segregated times after he recently referred to Black folks as “colored people.” Crane recited the racist phrase Thursday in a floor debate as he suggested a proposed amendment to the yearly annual defense policy bill. The amendment sparked a retort from the former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Crane, a combat veteran who is currently in his first term, stated: “My amendment has nothing to do with whether or not colored people or Black people or anybody can serve. It has nothing to do with any of that stuff.” Republican-backed amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act was at the center of the debate. The House adopted Crane’s amendment Thursday night in a 214-210 vote.
Crane insisted that his amendment wouldn’t allow the Defense Department from taking race, gender, religion, political affiliations or “any other ideological concepts” into account as the sole reason for recruitment training, promotion, education or issues relating to retention. “The military was never intended to be, you know, inclusive. Its strength is not its diversity. Its strength is its standards,” he remarked.
“I’m going to tell you guys this right now you can: 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,” Crane continued.
However, Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, immediately called Crane out on his bigoted words. “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.” Crane requested to amend “colored people” to “people of color.”
Beatty urged, however, that the words be stricken from the record. They were immediately removed unanimously. When asked about what he had said, Crane claims he made a mistake. “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 said in a statement.
