More From Utah’s Racist Senator
February 19th, 2008Deseret Morning News | Buttars says he’ll run for re-election in November
Buttars strikes back: Senator says critics have become a ‘hate lynch mob’
He keeps it up with the racially charged language. Here’s his justification:
“It was a bad statement, but the statement as I used it had nothing to do with human beings, certainly not a black human being.”
Right. Not a black baby human at all. So what kind of black baby are you referring to, Senator?
Utah doesn’t know how to deal with something like this because of the hegemony of the Republican party, the legitimization of hate speech and thought by the predominant religion and lack of strong moral leadership from elected officials. And this from the party who claims to support “family values”.
P.S. Mormons who defend this guy: you aren’t making a very good case for yourself or your religion. This has nothing to do with political correctness. It has to do with political hate. I don’t hate Mr. Buttars. But a guy with such outdated views should at the very least be censured and voted out. 10th District, you don’t look so good, either. o
UPDATE: Video interview with KUTV news:
Tags: chris buttars, mormon racism, racism, utah racism
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February 19th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Like most liberals, you blew this way out of proportion. Hence the need for radical PC’ness and hyper-sensitive speech to begin with. Seriously, chill out - maybe the reason that people think “black” and “dark” are derogatory in the first place is because people like you tell them that those words can’t ever be used to describe anything innocuous because…GASP!…African Americans are black too! Whoa…the connection is irrefutable!
February 19th, 2008 at 11:46 am
The real key is to keep this guy talking, he just keeps digging a hole. He talks of lynch mobs, black, brown and red kids, black human beings… the guy is incredibly stupid.
I honestly think blurb, that judging from comments associated with these articles you’ve linked to that the majority of people in Utah, Mormon or not, are upset about this. I haven’t talked to a Mormon yet who isn’t, and judging from, as Mr Buttars put it, the ‘lynch mob (sic)’ that is coming after him, people are being vocal.
Many, many people I know are actively contacting the reps along with republican leadership and Buttars to get him out, and this goes across any demographic line you’ve drawn. Beyond contacting their reps, what else is the population supposed to do?
Personally, I’d like to see him run again, because I honestly don’t think that even with all the straight ticket voters on the west side of the SL Valley that he can win.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Email or call everyone in the Utah Senate and ask them to pressure Buttars to resign. You can find their contact info here:
http://se15.utahsenate.org/perl/spage/roster2007.pl
February 19th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Wow. The guy should be voted out for so many reasons, and this is just one of them. The venom against you really surprises me. Then again, venom always has.
You know…I learned in one of my sociology classes that there was a genetic component to resistance to anything different from self, but I was pretty sure it was concentrated in the southern United States…
February 19th, 2008 at 11:53 am
>Mormons who defend this guy: you aren’t making a very good case for yourself or your religion
And neither are you, Jon.
First of all, I am a Mormon who does not defend this guy. I think that what he said was inexcusable and worthy of losing his job.
Second, you haven’t made a case for why the Church should be part of this story. True, Butters is a Mo but beyond that I’m not sure what the Church has to do with it. Butters does not speak for the Church, therefore what he said warrants no apology from the Church.
Would you be happy if the church held a press conference and announced his excommunication? Besides, who’s to say that his bishop didn’t have a little talkin’ to with him.
Take off the Ex-Mo glasses here for a bit Jon. You’ll look smarter.
February 19th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Maybe Buttars was using what he thought was an old Irish colloquialism for a changeling. Maybe he’s really just way into medieval witch/demon-speak.
Or perhaps when he said “this baby is black,” he meant “black–as in African-American, because we all recognize that when descriptors ‘black’ and ‘white’ are used in connection with a noun synonymous with ‘human being,’ the resultant phrase refers unambiguously to one of two major ethnic groups in America.”
February 19th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Isn’t the word “black” often used as an equivalent to the word “macabre”? As in “black humor”? To my understanding the phrase “black humor” doesn’t have anything to do with African Americans. Also, the word “baby” is frequently used to refer to inanimate objects - anything from cars and airplanes to projects to, in this instance, a bill. This seems to be a case of political wishful thinking; people want to dislike him (and perhaps there are other good reasons for this) and are interpreting his statement accordingly. Could he have done a better job of articulating his opinion? Perhaps, but I don’t think this is an example of a racist statement…
February 19th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
@Alisa, this has nothing to do with political correctness or liberal/conservative. It has to do with hate and ignorance.
@brian, I agree with you. However, Utah is a unique place and the church has a unique place here. The church can’t get its hands all over legislation/legislators and then remain silent when one of its own reveals his bigotry. The church can’t preach tolerance if it is going to take a pass on this.
@patatomic, you can make me the problem all you want. Mormons who disagree should stand up and say so. I’m very happy that you and others are doing so.
The LDS Church has a unique history of institutionalized, dogmatic racism. My status or beliefs don’t change that fact. People of color were discriminated against for years. If the church wants to move forward, I think a simple statement along the lines of “Senator Buttars recent statement doesn’t represent the views of the Church or the church membership” would go a long way to repairing the damages the church has done in the past and distancing the church from racism going forward. That the church won’t do it speaks volumes about where it is and even larger volumes about losing somebody willing to do their dirty work in the state legislature. By dirty work I mean something like pushing and passing a state constitutional amendment defining marriage so that gays can’t “legally” be married in Utah.
This is a wonderful chance for the church to take a public stand. So far, they are blowing it.
patatomic, take off the denial glasses here for a bit. You’ll look smarter.
February 19th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Buttars made a racist statement. Period.
And every institution—the State Senate, the Republican Party, the Mormon Church (yes, even the church)—that doesn’t make a public statement condemning Buttars for his offensive words and publicly claiming his comments do not represent their organization, is perpetuating the institutional racism that several people here are defending, and doing their own part to perpetuate as well.
I’ve said it before on other threads here, but I’m thinking the people who are saying it was a “poor choice of words” or this whole thing is “way out of proportion” are probably white and have little (if any) interaction with people of other races. Not to mention, a very short memory of our violent racial history in this country.
Jon, I’ve written about it for our alt weekly. It runs tomorrow and I will post it to my blog tonight. I will link to you.
February 19th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
@aaryn b., I couldn’t agree more and I’m looking forward to reading what you’ve written. Thanks for the link!
February 19th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Hmm. Okay. Not racist. Just poor word choice.
So next time some guy follows me home when I’m walking alone on a dark night (yes, this has happened to me- more than once, unfortunately), and I rush in my house, lock the door behind me, and call the police, when the cops ask for his description, I’ll tell them it was a black guy, even though he looked Scandanavian. Because, you know, he was scaring me, and black means scary and macabre. That’s not racist. Just poor word choice.
Or when someone says, “That’s very white of you”, after you let them bum $2 to pay for parking, that’s not racist, just poor word choice.
Or when when you go to help up a little old lady who slipped in the doorway of a store, and she gripes that none of the n*ggers can wipe their feet, which is why it got all slippery, that’s not racist- after all, the dictionary defines the n-word as meaning “a stupid person”. She just used poor word choice.
Racism begins in language. However latent or passive it may be, all you poorwordchoicers are doing is revealing your own racism, or at best, profound ignorance. So you call it poor word choice, and the rest of us will call it what it is: racist word choice.
February 19th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
patatomic: True, Butters is a Mo but beyond that I’m not sure what the Church has to do with it.
Um, are you aware that the word “Mo” is by most people understood as a shortening of “homo” as in gay? It took me a few readings to realise you meant (presumably) “Mormon”. Anyway, it actually wouldn’t surprise me all that much to find out he was a closeted, self-hating Mo. I mean all he seems to do is spew hatred, racism and above all homophobia, while all the while trying to tear apart families, ignore minorities, attack anyone who doesn’t fit his perfect little paradigm, and above all discriminate against people based solely on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
Whether he “means” to be racist or not with these comments, the fact is that they are racist, and his using them simply shows that his racism is so ingrained that he doesn’t even realise when he’s being racist, bigoted and ignorant. And that is perhaps even scarier.
February 19th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
I’ve been following this story since it was first linked here and I think you are absolutely right that this was blatant racism - not a matter of being politically incorrect.
I will also say that although I’ve never lived in Utah, my recent visit to SLC made me realize what a stronghold the church has over the entire state - including and especially the government and the press. The church even has a stronghold on the ownership of the Salt Lake Tribune, not to mention its own newspaper, the Deseret News.
At any rate, agree agree agree.
and, @Elisa, I think anyone with half a brain can see that within the context of what he said, he wasn’t talking about anything buta baby of the black race. how ELSE can that be construed? this isn’t liberal v conservative. like so many conservatives, you have simplified the argument to us versus them. this is a state government representative, making an innappropriate and racist mark on the floor of the Senate.
end rant.
February 19th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Once when I was researching Mormonism I read that racism was built into the culture, at least in earlier times, because the belief was held that people who had darker skin were being punished by God. Is this an idea you are familiar with? I was shocked and appalled, as I am sure most people would be.
Elisa sounds like a typical conservative…ie, moronic.
To Alina, as a person in the South who has visited places(including Utah) without a significant black population, I have to say that the case for resistance due to difference from self is stronger in those places. Yes, there is racism in the south. But black people and white people (as well as many other people) have been living here together for better or worse for several centuries now. I have several friends who have moved to points west from the south in the last year and they were taken aback by the “whiteness” of it (SLC in particular).
February 19th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
@blurb
Still, you fail to answer my question. What does the Church have to do with this issue?
Zero denial going on here. Simply put, you have failed to prove your point. Just because an organization doesn’t use an opportunity to make a public statement makes them racist? I really have a hard time understanding your logic, especially when there isn’t a definitive answer to what Butters meant. Now maybe if he were tried in court and found guilty then I might be able to see the Church making a statement. Until then, you’ve got the workings of a nice fallacy going on here.
@Craig
Wow, several gay friends and acquaintances, seven years living in San Francisco and I never once heard “Mo” used as a gay term. Sorry if I offended but most people I know use it as a Mormon reference. I’m glad to know. Thanks for the heads up.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Buttars is an ass. At the very least he should be voted out of office.
But my main point is this:
My love for Rod Decker and his yelling into microphones knows no bounds.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Jon, what it really boils down to is he doesn’t think he did anything wrong, and neither does a majority of the Legislature. They haven’t thought his racist, homophobic agenda or language has been a problem in the past, why in the heck would they start now?
All I hope is Ralph Becker kicks his a** on this benefits issue. C’mon Ralph, come out fighting. Nicely as always.
What a jerk.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
When Mel Gibson made his anti-semitic coments did the Catholic Church make a statment? I know he was not a political figure, but, he sure was a public one.
I do thing what Buttars did was wrong. I dont think this has anything to do with the LDS religon.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
@patatomic
No problem. Its a somewhat new usage (i.e. likely coined in the past 5-8 years or so). It wasn’t offensive, just odd to see it used like that. I’ve lived in Utah for years and have been mormon all my life, and have never heard “Mo” being used in place of “Mormon”.
I don’t know that this incident had directly anything to do with the LdS church, but the Mormon culture, especially that in Utah is far too permissive with such things (racism, homophobia, bigotry).
February 19th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Maybe he meant food babies, the kind he has to pull out of his ass.
February 19th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Chris Buttars is a moron who doesn’t deserve his job. He makes ridiculous comment after ridiculous comment. Unfortunately, when you’re talking about large organizations like the church that have historically faced a great deal of public scrutiny, the church knows any public action it takes or statement it makes will be heavily scrutinized, so it takes a while. I would think that over the next week or two we’ll hear something about this.
I understand your unease and criticism about how the church has handled race issues in the past. In fact, I would go so far as to say is the #1 problem contributing to my husband’s activity (and he’s white, by the way). It’s a difficult, sensitive subject that was and has been handled poorly. But these are just human beings running the church (and chuch members especially need to remember this!).
P.S. If you’re talking about the federal appeals court to which the state of Utah belongs, they are circuits (not districts). There is a federal district court for northern Utah, and after that there is the appeals level for which there are circuits. If you weren’t talking about the 10th circuit court, then sorry for this belabored explanation.
February 19th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
hey there you free speech phony, yeah right…YOU!!!and pull your pants up!!
you are a hypocrite liar who publicly preaches free speech (except when it is something with which you disagree)but who really hates open discourse.
let’s see how stupid you people really are: (rules of the truly stupid souless morons):
1. anyone who might say, “hey, you have a black mark on your {record}{shirt} {soul}” is a racist devil to be destroyed.
If i say “that black mark on your record is one ugly baby” I should have my gonads removed by a team of man hating lesbian trasgendered half elf midgets with a speech impediment.
Pay attention to which media outlets are pumping up this story. These are the enemies of free speech.
2. Only black people can use the word “lynched”, even if they live in Lynchberg, Tenn. or Lynchberg, Va. And they should be fired if they aren’t black. All whites who are named Lynch must be sent to a concentration camp run by …. you get the idea.
3. If i say “white lie” I am a racist who must be destroyed, unless I am a homo, woman, oriental, indio, or….anything besides a white male.
This reminds me of the lynching of Don Imus. And that was concocted to discipline the talk show host roster to not speak ill of Hillary.
Seems this current operation is designed to derail buttars efforts (may god bless him) to stop the deviant marriage registry in slc.
February 19th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Ok, listen up folks… Any of you who think Buttars was using a colloquialism or alternate meaning of the terms “black” or “baby” or who think he was quoted out of context simply have not heard or read his statements in context.
The bill in question came to be known on the Senate floor as the “bad baby bill” because of one Senator’s comparison of the bill (a measure to spread education construction costs across the entire state regardless of local tax base or educational spending) to the baby brought to King Solomon in the famous Old Testament parable. The one Solomon sarcastically suggested should be cut in half as a solution to the problem.
Then Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, followed up, dubbing it “the ugly baby bill”. Buttars, to clarify Stephenson’s description said…
“Senator Stephens [sic], this baby is black, it is a dark, ugly thing.” (http://kvnuforthepeople.com/?p=1477)
Buttars’ words were very much in the context of an actual human baby.
This is not the same as saying someone has a black heart or in saying that someone has a black mark on their record.
February 19th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Oh, and neither Dom Imus nor Chris Buttars suffered at the hands of a lynch mob. To say so is the most unfortunately ignorant kind of irony.
February 19th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
@hillarym The 10th District refers to the 10th Utah State Senate district that Buttars represents in the Senate. It covers West Jordan, South Jordan and Herriman.