Lawmaker: ‘Welfare Crazy Checks’ Go To ‘Blacks’ Clogging Up The ER ‘Being Treated For Gunshots’

One Mississippi Republican is fighting increased funding for education because of his unique world view.

Even though Mississippi ranks dead last in a nationwide performance assessment of public schools, Republican State Representative Gene Alday is opposed to investing any additional funding for education. And now, Alday, a former small town mayor, is under fire after making racist comments in an interview with a local newspaper. 

“I don’t see any schools hurting,” Rep. Alday, 57, told the Clarion-Ledger. He acknowledged that his state “has a lot of bad school districts,” but blamed their poor performance on voters who “are electing superintendents that don’t know anything about education.”

In an apparent attempt to defend his stance, Alday, who sits on the Youth and Family Affairs committee, said, “I come from a town where all the blacks are getting food stamps and what I call ‘welfare crazy checks.’ They don’t work.” 

The former mayor of a town of just 1248 people then relayed an experience he had at a local hospital’s emergency room. “I liked to died. I laid in there for hours because they [black people] were in there being treated for gunshots.”

Citing his “race-baiting speech,” that same paper is now demanding Alday apologize and “not seek re-election this year and retire.” If he doesn’t, the Clarion-Ledger says voters should retire him “at the ballot box.”

UPDATE: GOP Lawmaker Who Says State Issues ‘Welfare Crazy Checks’ To ‘Blacks’ Insists He’s Not Racist

 

Image via Mississippi House of Representatives
Hat tip: Talking Points Memo and ThinkProgress