Sally Kern: Minorities Earn Less Because They Don't Work As Hard

Oklahoma state Rep. Sally Kern, a Republican, made questionable remarks in the wake of a measure seeking to ban affirmative action programs advancing in the state, Tulsa World reports.

According to the local outlet:

Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, said minorities earn less than white people because they don’t work as hard and have less initiative.

“We have a high percentage of blacks in prison, and that’s tragic, but are they in prison just because they are black or because they don’t want to study as hard in school? I’ve taught school, and I saw a lot of people of color who didn’t study hard because they said the government would take care of them.”

In light of the proposed constitutional amendment in question clearing the state House of Representatives on Wednesday evening, the GOP lawmaker also suggested women earn less than their male counterparts because they generally spend more time in the home.

The AP recently reported on the legislation:

The measure [will] put on the 2012 election ballot a provision that the state may not grant preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, color, sex, ethnicity or national origin. The ban would apply to public employment, education and contracting.

Opponents say the proposal targets a non-existent problem. Several Democrats contend the bill is an attempt to use race to generate fear and draw conservative white voters to the polls.

The Oklahoman reports:

Rep. Emily Virgin, D-Norman, one of the youngest members of the Legislature, said discrimination still occurs against women. She said she and her brother applied for home loans about the same time; her loan took longer to process and she had to make a larger down payment.

“I don't want a handout and I don't think any woman does,” she said.

Democratic state Rep. Jeannie McDaniel reportedly conveyed a similar sentiment, saying, “I don't believe women have reached their equal rights in Oklahoma," she said.

Comments

[giffjr]

11:05 AM on 05/25/2011

There comes a point when elected officials have to be scrutinized to a higher calling. I am sick to death of the USA considering itself to be the world's role model, when this kind of outrageous conduct is still prevalent and considered free speech! The US is the most backwards Neanderthal thinking country of all modern Democracies on this planet. Representative Kerns should be ousted from her political ties to the GOP, if this pathetic country is ever going to rise above pure racist hatred! This kind of hate mongering needs to be criminalized! Contrary to her own beliefs, Kerns has labeled herself as being utterly incompetent! This is not an educated person, but someone with a toxic mental illness! Until, the US government cracks down on this disgusting behavior from its own members, the US will continue to wallow far behind the rest of the world and in a way that nullifies it from any credible claims that the American way is what the world needs to aspire to. What country can hold itself in such esteem, when it has members of government, who can get away with racism to the nth. This person is deciding state policy based on her hatred of people with differently hued pigment cells in their skin! There has to be consequences as any backtracking at this point would be disingenuous and self-serving. She needs to face disciplinary action and I'm sure that removal from her position should be first. Grow up America!

[classyhippie]

11:40 AM on 05/11/2011

What's sad is that the new governor of OK, Mary Fallin, campaigned for Kern. She supports her completely... and Oklahoma wonders why they can't attract new business to the state? Backward.

[likeAplan]

12:55 PM on 05/07/2011

.....and this lady taught our youth.

[Box 714]

09:11 PM on 05/05/2011

The top / down control of ownership is a manipulation of human assets into the traditions of the CAP after life program using death as a temporal exchange process to define the ownership of competition in the wealth of the few. Controlling perceptions of value is then defined by the distribution of choice in the meaning of education and vocation, to the meaning of choices available based on the expansion and contraction of the control order.

The professional perceptions of value dominate the moral significance of status, whilst in reality a life is a life regardless of status with equal designation in the meaning of risk. In the top / down distribution of risk, risks are more abundant at the bottom than they ever will be at top, yet, those controlling the accumulation of wealth in the history of material money in motion dominate the returns in the perceptions of risk, whilst worker, unemployed share the realities of risk. Risk MAN AGE ment is flipping the coin and selling the opposite notion to break the unions and collect the rewards. Now they've collected all the money to 1% of the population there still flogging the dead horse of the hard work bedtime story for the dreamers.

[Dan J S]

05:00 PM on 05/05/2011

To all that criticize Kern, can someone explain to me why most of prison populations are black? Is there an explanation, or are we hiding behind political correctness? Has someone honestly bought a sandwich at a inner city restaurant ran by black people vs suburbia ran by white people. Honestly - which was better, faster, nicer service?

[philtll]

11:43 AM on 05/11/2011

Dear dolt: Yes. Minorities are selectively and more harshly arrested, prosecuted and convicted, and they often lack adequate defense representation. I'm not saying people are being railroaded for uncommitted crimes, just that whites get a pass way more often. Look it up, self-reported anonymous drug use rates are similar or lower for any minority compared with whites.

And heck yeah, I eat at places on the "black" side of OKC all the time. I've never had problem one with service. Why would you think black business owners would want to run off customers? Don't black people want to be treated nicely too? Or did you have your race-glasses on the moment you walked into a "black" restaurant? If you've ever been to one.

Signed, 6 days later.

[Dan J S]

12:01 PM on 05/11/2011

I can see how some white people get a pass, but there is no way in hell the pass is so that the 13% of black population of the USA is represented by like 70% in prison.

I quote

About 10.4% of the entire African-American male population in the United States aged 25 to 29 was incarcerated, by far the largest racial or ethnic group—by comparison, 2.4% of Hispanic men and 1.2% of white men in that same age group were incarcerated. According to a report by the Justice Policy Institute in 2002, the number of black men in prison has grown to five times the rate it was twenty years ago. Today, more African-American men are in jail than in college. In 2000 there were 791,600 black men in prison and 603,032 enrolled in college. In 1980, there were 143,000 black men in prison and 463,700 enrolled in college.

Read more: Prison Population Exceeds Two Million — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0881455.html#ixzz1M3n8HyrQ

[RITA W]

02:58 PM on 05/13/2011

ARE YOU TRYING TO LEAD US TO BELIEVE THAT EVERYTIME YOU GO INTO A "WHITE" ESTABLISHMENT YOU GET "GRADE A SERVICE"? WELL THEN YOU MUST BE WHITE...BECAUSE I HAVE HAD SOME EXPERIENCES TO LEAVE "A BAD TASTE IN MY MOUTH". COULD THAT BE BECAUSE I'M BLACK? (HOW RIDICULOUS DOES THAT SOUND?) YOU MUST HAVE BEEN EDUCATED BY SALLY KERN? STUPID SAYS AS STUPID HAVE BEEN TAUGHT!
JUST BECAUSE YOU HAD A BAD EXPERIENCE WITH ONE GROUP DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU, OR SOMEONE ELSE WON'T HAVE A GOOD EXPERIENCE WITH THAT SAME GROUP--IF GIVEN ANOTHER CHANCE. MAYBE THAT PERSON HAD A BAD DAY PRIOR TO SEEING YOU--PERHAPS THAT ESTABLISHMENT RECEIVED AN UNEXPECTED "RUSH" DUE TO THE GREAT FOOD BEING SERVED. PERHAPS IT WAS YOU AND YOUR BAD ATTITUDE.
I, HONESTLY, AM AMAZED, AS WELL AS APPALLED AT PEOPLE LIKE YOU, SALLY KERN, AND COUNTLESS OTHERS---WHO ACTUALLY PERPETUATE HATRED (HOWEVER BLUNT OR SUBTLE). YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF! THIS IS WHY "WE ALL CAN'T GET ALONG"

[Dan J S]

03:40 PM on 05/13/2011

So why is the population of prisons mostly black? I am not perpetuating anything that is not well known. People are afraid to talk about it. I will never hate you, I will defend you to death from any threat or violence, but for most part, the black culture is becoming very lazy. You can blame the politicians that push welfare on black communities. Once you are used to free handout, it's not easy to go back to work.

[Gracie fr]

05:41 PM on 05/04/2011

Someone who has hardly left whiite suburbia and probably never taught in an inner city school. However did she get elected in the first place...????

[vikingway2deal]

01:20 PM on 05/05/2011

Looks like she was a school teacher in Texas in what looks like a predominately white district. Her time in Texas helps to explain the origins of her racism and sexism.

[Angie Stith]

02:12 AM on 05/03/2011

These never ending racist comments from elected officials make me wonder if a
psychological evaluation should be a requirement for running for public office. Our
country would be better off if racism in any form would not be allowed or tolerated,
especially from our elected officials.

[vikingway2deal]

11:07 AM on 05/03/2011

Those tests would reject most of the Republican party.

[chad lancaster]

10:43 AM on 05/24/2011

AMEN!!!!!

[Ron Weaver]

12:20 PM on 05/01/2011

There seems to be a trend of late that offers Racists/bigots a way to say what they have been dying to say for a long time on a Monday and then apoligizing on Tuesday making everything right. Just too much of this out there to be a coincidence.IMO

[vikingway2deal]

09:54 AM on 05/02/2011

I did not see an apology. I would not believe it even if she did apologize, since action speaks louder than words.

[lizofeagan]

11:52 AM on 05/01/2011

The fact that this woman was a teacher and is a minister's wife is appalling. How can these people claim to be Christian?

[vikingway2deal]

10:00 AM on 05/02/2011

Christians owned slaves in this country. Her Christian values do not seem to conflict with her racist beliefs about African Americans.

[pinkygirl1]

02:36 AM on 06/15/2011

They do it in the name of the Lord...I don't think we serve the same GOD!!

[Madbunny]

01:15 AM on 05/01/2011

This sounds like the kind of person that starts a lot of statements with "I'm not a racist but.... " Or "I have a lot of black friends but.... "

[mfoto1986]

01:30 PM on 05/02/2011

True True

[Romaine Chritton]

12:00 AM on 05/01/2011

It is astonishing how ignorance prevails in this day and age! Haven't we learned anything from our history? Apparently history was not the subject she taught!

[JeanCherry]

10:59 PM on 04/30/2011

And does kern's comment imply that our slave ancestors were a bunch of lazy @#$ people. Kern, get a grip, all because you say it does not make it true. Your comment shows your level of ignorance. The more things change the more things stay the same.

[lannearae]

10:02 PM on 04/30/2011

The minority workers I know work just a hard. Women earn less and are treated differently than men because its a man world.

[O K Ali]

07:58 PM on 04/30/2011

When you let schooling get in the way of your education, this is the end result.

[Ben Carnes]

06:59 PM on 04/30/2011

So we are back to the master race thingie again? I've never bought into this kind of stereotyping, I've seen evidence that proves work ethics is learned. But to slight a race because of a few is off the scale. I know that affirmative action had legitimacy in basis, and that in some cases, it had the opposite effect. No system is perfect. But if Sally Kern has her way, then watch as all the progress begin to slide backward. People just have to remember, the Oklahoma legislature is a master at reactionary politics.
As to the voters who put them there, then they deserve what they get. There are always armchair political analysts who have a better idea, but you don't see them getting off the chair and campaigning to make a difference. And it will take a lot more than one person, they will need to make a majority in the house. Recently, they passed a law giving a person life for manufacturing hash, even though the police says it isn't even a problem and the prisons are bulging at the seams. The forecast doesn't look good in Oklahoma, how about where you live?

[Ben Carnes]

07:56 PM on 04/30/2011

UPDATE: Apparently, she has already tried to cover herself, here is a link to an article about this http://themoderatevoice.com/108333/rep-sally-kern-apologizes-for-racist-comments-sort-of-not-really/ and I tried to go to her website, but the server is still down, it says bandwidth has been exceeded. Here is the link: http://repsallykern.com/