To: the Maine Republican Party and Governor Janet Mills
Paul LePage: Apologize for your racist comments
I call on Gov. Paul LePage and the Maine GOP to apologize for and repudiate the overtly racist comments he made at a town hall forum in Bridgton, Maine, on January 6.
Why is this important?
At a town hall forum on Maine's heroin epidemic on January 6, Gov. LePage said:
"Now the traffickers ... These are guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty, these types of guys. They come from Connecticut and New York, they come up here, they sell their heroin, and they go back home. Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young, white girl before they leave."
These blatantly racist comments are unacceptable in today's political debate. I urge Gov. LePage and the Maine GOP to apologize for and repudiate these deeply offensive comments.
UPDATE (JAN. 8): The governor gave a news conference in which he blamed the media for covering his remarks and claimed they were a slip of the tongue. He also said he apologized to "Maine women," who he made a point of saying were virtually all white. It's not clear what he was apologizing to them for. Because of the fundamental insincerity of this statement, we're continuing to urge the governor to give a full and honest apology for his racist statements without blaming others for his actions.
"Now the traffickers ... These are guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty, these types of guys. They come from Connecticut and New York, they come up here, they sell their heroin, and they go back home. Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young, white girl before they leave."
These blatantly racist comments are unacceptable in today's political debate. I urge Gov. LePage and the Maine GOP to apologize for and repudiate these deeply offensive comments.
UPDATE (JAN. 8): The governor gave a news conference in which he blamed the media for covering his remarks and claimed they were a slip of the tongue. He also said he apologized to "Maine women," who he made a point of saying were virtually all white. It's not clear what he was apologizing to them for. Because of the fundamental insincerity of this statement, we're continuing to urge the governor to give a full and honest apology for his racist statements without blaming others for his actions.