Ohio Lawmaker Wondered Out Loud If ‘Colored’ Folks Are Hit Harder By COVID-19 Because They Don’t Wash Their Hands Properly!
FEATURED PHOTO: OHIO COMMISSION ON MINORITY HEALTH EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ANGELA DAWSON
TheRoot.com, By Stephen A. Crockett Jr., Posted June 18th 2020
Ohio state Sen. Steve Huffman, who is also a fucking emergency room physician, “asked the question last week during a state Senate Health Committee hearing why African Americans are being disproportionately impacted by the pandemic,” the Dayton Daily News reported.
“My point is I understand African Americans have a higher incidence of chronic conditions and it makes them more susceptible to death from COVID,” Huffman said. “But why doesn’t it make them more susceptible to just get COVID?”
“Could it just be that African Americans or the colored population do not wash their hands as well as other groups or wear a mask or do not socially distance themselves? That could be the explanation of the higher incidence?”
Ohio Commission on Minority Health Director Angela Dawson, who is black, quickly called Huffman a stone-cold bitch and then invited him to come inspect her hands for cleanliness so she could give him that work explained to the dumbass emergency room physician that he doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about.
“That is not the opinion of leading medical experts in this country,” Dawson said, noting that the coronavirus “impacts the respiratory system and makes those with chronic conditions more vulnerable to the illness,” the Hill reports.
Ohio Legislative Black Caucus President Stephanie Howse (D) told the Daily News that this is exactly what we are talking about when black folks speak on systematic racism.
“He highlights what racism is from a systematic perspective. He’s a full legislator but beyond that, professionally, he’s a doctor,” Howse said.
“When we talk about the health disparities that happen because black folks aren’t believed when they’re actually hurt, they aren’t given the treatment that they need. Do you think that someone who acknowledges the ‘coloreds’ is going to give the love and care that people need when they come through those doors?”
Howse added that Huffman’s statement implied that African Americans are dirty or not smart enough to comprehend that following the guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19 includes washing hands.
“This right here is the underlying implicit bias/covert racism that was in the question,” State Rep. Erica Crawley (D) said Huffman was implicating that Black people are less hygienic or clean, “which clearly isn’t the truth.”
Huffman, of course, explained that when he mentioned that black people or the “coloreds” as he put it, don’t wash their hands, he didn’t mean that they were dirty and everyone just misunderstood him.
“I was trying to focus on why COVID-19 affects people of color at a higher rate since we really do not know all the reasons,” he told the Dayton Daily News. Huffman also issued a statement to The Washington Post late Wednesday, claiming his words “taken out of context” and said that he thought the phrases “people of color” and “colored population” were similar; he didn’t clear up the dirty black folks part, though.
“People of color would have been better, but they seem to be interchangeable,” he said.
No. The. Fuck. They. Aren’t.
He also dismissed concerns about his role as a practicing doctor.
“Anybody that comes into any emergency room, I give them the very best care regardless of what race they are,” he said, the Hill reports.
On Thursday, Huffman sent another statement to CNN trying to clear this shit up again.
“Regrettably, I asked a question in an unintentionally awkward way that was perceived as hurtful and was exactly the opposite of what I meant,” he said. Which is another way of saying, “Sorry for the way you heard the fucked up question I asked.”
And this is why no person of color (and I mean this in the most global way possible) fucks with Linda’s macaroni salad. Ever.
On Thursday, Huffman was fired from his emergency-room physician job at TeamHealth for the comments.
Senior Editor @ The Root, boxes outside my weight class, when they go low, you go lower.
