U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown verbally attacked a top Bush administration official during a briefing on the Haiti crisis Wednesday, calling the President's policy on the beleaguered nation "racist" and his representatives "a bunch of white men."
Her outburst was directed at Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega during a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill. Noriega, a Mexican-American, is the State Department's top official for Latin America.
It is interesting that she calls the President's policy "racist", yet she herself uses the racial term 'white men' in a derogatory sense. Her lack of sensitivity toward Noriega is also very telling, and it gets worse:
Brown sat directly across the table from Noriega and yelled into a microphone. Her comments sent a hush over the hourlong meeting, which was attended by about 30 people, including several members of Congress and Bush administration officials.
Noriega later told Brown: "As a Mexican-American, I deeply resent being called a racist and branded a white man," according to three participants.
Brown then told him "you all look alike to me," the participants said.
Ms. Brown stands up against a policy which she feels discriminates against Haiti; then, in the same breath, insults the race of the President and his representatives and trivializes the heritage of Mr. Noriega.
Again and again, we see the unctuous efforts of those who fight against one form of racism, yet actively support the reverse. In order to make progress on these issues, all parties must continuously locate and remove the seed of bigotry from their own hearts.
Mr. Noriega's reply could have been equally destructive. Instead, he opted to be witty and incisive:
After her comments about white men, Noriega said he would "relay that to (Secretary of State) Colin Powell and (national security adviser) Condoleezza Rice the next time I run into them," participants said. Powell and Rice are black.
(Hat-tip to Instapundit)
