COLUMBUS – A Republican state Senator has been criticized for his use of the word “colored” in questioning during a committee hearing on declaring racism a public health crisis in Ohio and for implying that African-Americans practice poor hygiene.
During testimony by Angela Dawson, of the Ohio Commission on Minority Health, before the Health, Human Services and Medicaid Committee, Sen. Steve Huffman (R-Tipp City) asked Dawson about the higher rate of COVID-19 infection among the state’s black population.
“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? Could that be the explanation for why the higher incidence?” he said.
Dawson, who is black, responded, “That is not the opinion of leading medical experts in this country.”
Huffman, 55, says he regrets how his question was perceived, saying he asked it “in an unintentionally awkward way.”
The head of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus immediately fired off a statement critical of Huffman’s remark.
“The fact that a well-educated legislator, a Vice Chair of the Health Committee and a practicing medical doctor would, in a public setting, nonchalantly use such antiquated terminology paired with a hurtful, racist stereotype all in one breath reflects how unconscious this problem of racism is for too many,” Rep. Stephanie Howse (D-Cleveland) said and called for all members of the General Assembly and their staffs to undergo racial equity and implicit bias training.
Historically, the world “colored” is associated with segregation and Jim Crow laws and is considered offensive. The idea that “black people are dirty” has long been used as a racist stereotype, Howser said.