Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., referred to military personnel of color as "colored people" on the House floor Thursday, drawing the ire of Democrats in the chamber. The Freedom Caucus member dropped the archaic term during a debate over his proposed amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would prohibit the consideration of "ideological concepts" like race and gender in military recruitment. After Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, who chaired the Congressional Black Caucus from 2021 to 2023, argued that the proposed amendment would impede several civil rights, Crane dismissed her.
"Though that was unbelievably inspiring, my amendment has nothing to do with whether or not colored people or Black people or anybody can serve, OK?" he said. "What we want to preserve and maintain is the fact that our military does not become a social experiment. We want the best of the best; we want to have standards that guide who's in what unit, what they do." Beatty rebuked the comment, requesting to have the words "colored people" stricken from the record because they're "offensive and very inappropriate." Though Crane later asked to have his remark, which was removed from the record without objection, amended to "people of color," his request was rejected. Crane later told The Hill in a statement that he misspoke and affirmed equality among all people. The Congressional Black Caucus asserted on Twitter that Crane's words were "unconscionable" and that the incident was a "shameful moment on the House floor."
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