Rep. Scott Denounces Racial Comments Made by Former Education Secretary Bill Bennett

Rep. Scott Denounces Racial Comments Made by Former Education Secretary Bill Bennett
September 30, 2005

Washington, DC - Congressman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, (D-VA-3), said that yesterday's radio broadcast by former U.S. Secretary of Education Bill Bennett -- in which Bennett stated that crime would go down if all black babies in America were aborted -- needs to be looked at in context of the greater Republican party agenda.

"By suggesting that crime is a factor of one's pre-birth genetic makeup rather than a factor of what impacts a person after birth, Bill Bennett seems to be oblivious to the discrimination in his statement," Representative Scott stated. "We see this same tolerance for discrimination in the Republican controlled Congress when we consider last week's vote to allow discrimination in government-funded Head Start programs," he said. On September 22, 2005, the U.S. House of Representatives voted along mostly party lines to specifically allow offensive discrimination in early education Head Start programs.

"This means that a government-funded program can tell the most qualified job applicant, 'we won't hire you because of your religion.' That kind of discrimination has never been tolerated in Head Start and in fact, hasn't been tolerated in any government contract from 1965 until this Administration came into office," said Rep. Scott. "When you allow discrimination based on religion," he explained, "it becomes impossible to enforce anti-discrimination laws based on race."

Rep. Scott feels that Bennett's words are symptomatic of the Republican political agenda. "Bennett is a party leader. If the party does not repudiate the statement, then it means that they agree with it," Scott stated. "In this case, the words speak for themselves. When democratic leaders blurt out something offensive, other democrats make it clear that the person was not speaking for the party."

http://www.house.gov/scott/press/09.30.05.htm