During a televised hearing before the Homeland Security Committee last week on natural disasters in 2017, Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama made a joke that thousands of people online perceived as a racist jab.
Video of the joke spread quickly on Twitter and Facebook with accusations that Rogers’ comment was directed at Puerto Rico Rep. Jenniffer González.
Alabama Republican Rep. Mike Rogers last week, after Jenniffer González-Colón of Puerto Rico speaks at a hearing: “It’s refreshing to finally have a witness who doesn’t have an accent.” (via C-SPAN) https://t.co/u2GD7QwgSI pic.twitter.com/cuSDNbXe0T
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 22, 2018
Rogers has the worst “accent” of all: the racist one. His comment is deplorable and ignorant at best. Shame on you! https://t.co/OzIQIC7fVz
— Carmen Yulín Cruz (@CarmenYulinCruz) March 21, 2018
Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers, right after Puerto Rico’s @RepJenniffer speaks: “It’s refreshing to finally have a witness who doesn’t have an accent.” https://t.co/y9cnLUQT6s
— ??. (@cristianafarias) March 21, 2018
Like most hurried accusations, this one lacked context.
After González spoke on the condition of Puerto Rico, noting the work that still needed to be done, she yielded back the balance of her time to chairman Rep. Michael McCaul, who then called on Rogers.
“Thank you Mr. Chairman. Mr. Long, good to have you here,” Rogers said. “It’s refreshing to finally have a witness that doesn’t have an accent before this committee.”
Brock Long, the administrator of FEMA and witness to the committee, grew up in North Carolina and shares a Southern accent with Rogers (barring all the nuances that make up one’s “Southern” vernacular).
In his quip, Rogers was referencing Long and joking about their shared twang. Additionally, González was not a witness during the committee hearing, thus Rogers’ reference to “a witness” could not include her.
Politico, who posted the clip of Rogers’ joke, later deleted the video noting in a correction it had “been removed because his remarks about a witness’ accent were not in reference to Rep. Jenniffer González-Colón, as the headline had suggested.”
In response to a tweet from @LatinoRebels accusing Rogers of mocking her, González clarified that Rogers was specifically referencing Long’s “Southern drawl” and not attacking her accent.
What @RepMikeRogersAL was clearly referring to was @FEMA_Brock ’s enunciation, which like https://t.co/Y0I9RDTh5G’, is considered by many people to be a Southern drawl. It was a light-hearted bit of humor and I appreciated it. Rep. Rogers was not being negative about any accent
— Jenniffer González (@RepJenniffer) March 20, 2018
Meanwhile, the puerile tweets and Facebook posts falsely accusing Rogers of mocking González continue to grow both in quantity and misplaced vitriol.
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