An exchange Wednesday at the Oklahoma state capitol between Republican State Senator David Rader and Oklahoma Policy Institute Justice/Economic Mobility Project Manager Damion Shade:
Rader: “…Well into your presentation did you go to yellow families? You left yellow families out for quite a while.”
Shade: “You mean Asian Americans?”
Rader: “You use black term, white term, brown term so I was just gonna jump in there with you…”
Shade: “I was just making sure.”
Rader: “Asian distraction”
Shade: “Asian Americans.”
Rader: “Because their experience has been totally different than many umm, than many others that have come over.”
KFOR also reports ‘Nick Singer with Oklahoma Progress Now says that wasn’t the only upsetting thing the senator said during that presentation. Even his word choice, as abhorrent as it is, it’s the ideas underneath it that he tried to articulate in his very brief comments that are in my opinion far more problematic,’ he said. ‘He also makes comments about black family structure, trying to suggest making black families didn’t succeed because they didn’t stay together.'”