New Town Representative Makes Racist Comment While Promoting Racial Unity

This week, a state legislator introduced a bill, proposing an attempt to unify North Dakotans (and eventually, ALL Americans) of all races.

According to Duluth News Tribune, Republican Representative Terry Jones of New Town, North Dakota, wants to unite the state by classifying "American" as the first race option on official documents. The news reports that Jones also said  that Black Americans are "glad their ancestors were brought over here as slaves." Get the full story from Duluth News Tribune here.

The article says that Jones is "disgusted" with "how he says race is used by bad actors to divide the country." He thinks that assigning the population with a "blanket race" would bring unity. Ironically, part of Jones' reasoning about unifying the races was totally racist.

Black Americans are "glad their ancestors were brought over here as slaves"? Did Terry Jones practice that line in the mirror? He actually believes that Black people are happy that their ancestors endured so much brutal hatred and abuse in order for them to be the Black Americans they are today? How else can a bold and ignorant statement such as that be taken?

Race and nationality are two entirely different things. The reason race is asked about on forms has to do with ensuring equality. If Terry Jones truly feels that documents asking about race are divisive, he needs to come up with a better argument than than Black people being "glad" about slavery in America. Nobody should be "glad" about slavery.