From the Salt Lake Tribune:
A West Jordan senator shocked his colleagues and later apologized for comparing a bill he opposed to a black baby, calling it “a dark, ugly thing.”
Republican Sen. Chris Buttars’ comment came during a debate on SB48, aimed at equalizing school construction funds. Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, called it “the ugly baby bill,” but, as Buttars stood to vote, went further. “This baby is black. It’s a dark, ugly thing,” he said.
Sen. Ross Romero, D-Salt Lake City, said he perceived the statement as offensive and took the issue to Senate leaders. “I felt it needed to be addressed and needed to be addressed promptly,” he said.
Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, said he was surprised by the comment.
“I didn’t see it coming,” he said. “I didn’t take it as a racist remark, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought it was inappropriate and a breach of decorum.”
Buttars agreed and felt bad about it and asked for a chance to apologize, Valentine said. After senators returned from a 10-minute break, Valentine noted the “breach in decorum,” and gave Buttars the floor.
“I made a comment that I think a lot of people could take racist. I certainly did not mean that in any way but it was wrong and certainly could easily have been taken that way,” Buttars said. “I apologize to anyone who took offense. . . . I ask for your forgiveness.”
He just gets more and more delightful, no?
Racist?? Probably no.
Doofus? Probably yes.
Well, this is the same guy who said Brown vs. Board of Education was a wrong decision, so in my opinion, probably yes to racist too. Even if he’s not totally conscious of it.
I think that Chris Butters & Fred Phelps are the same dude. Think about it!
Of course he is a racist! WTF?? He just stated, aloud, what many LDS folks are thinking (and saying) in private. Darned Cain! How dare he not exist and curse the black race. Oh wait.. was that Ham?? Who knows? The dogma changes with the wind in Mormonism… Bigotry is bigotry. Be it about gays, blacks, mexicans, or anyone else (says me the “athiest”).
H_H
It should be obvious that Buttars is a racist now (if not earlier). I find it unbelievable that people still defend him. Utahns should be ashamed for their ignorance. Using the adjective “black” with baby is NOT the same thing as saying a black day or dark night. When you use that adjective to modify a human with the intent to be negative (he was trying find a term that was more negative than an ugly baby) it is racist. For most normal people (outside of utah?) just using the term ugly “black baby” in a negative fashion would be uncomfortable. For Buttars it just seems to slide of his lips with no problem.
This old man is a racist, a white ugly mormon thing!
I’m sorry, It was wrong. I don’t mean to offend anyone. I can see how some people think it could be taken that way. I didn’t mean it that way. I apologize to anyone who took offense…I ask for your forgiveness.
A white ugly mormon thing?
He just stated, aloud, what many LDS folks are thinking (and saying) in private?
I’ll be the first one to stand up and say what a horrible comment that Buttars made. I was absolutely horrified by it. But tell me how what he said reflects on Mormons or LDS folks. I am one of the people you like to call a LDS folk, and a white ugly mormon. And I believe he should resign immediately. Being Mormon does not make me a racist.
Chris Butter was just echoing what I heard sometimes in my youth by teachers in Utah classrooms. People have forgotten how bad it was. The Utah Republican Party should take a stand and call for Senator Butters to resign. I’m 62, and I’m always disgusted with people who try to keep alive the worst aspects of the America of their youth.
To Sarah, I agree with you about modern Mormons, but a good number of those in Senator Butters generation (mine) are infected with the virus of racism. I remember writing a controversial article in college. What was so controversial about it? It called for an end to discrimination in buying and selling houses. In other words, people like Chris Butters believed that as a seller, you had the right to refuse to sell to a black family. Also, you should look at who was and was NOT on the reviewing stand when Martin Luther King gave his famous I have a dream speech. I wonder who many Mormon leaders were on that reviewing stand? Most of them believed he was a communist or subversive.
Mr. Butters has made his religious beliefs VERY well known (frequently). My parents are LDS… My siblings (all of them are LDS).. and I was raised LDS (35+years). Make no mistake, the number of racist comments I heard from the bretheren while attending could not be tallied on one 8″ by 11.5″ sheet of paper. Don’t tell me racism isn’t institutional in the LDS faith. You can’t refute my personal experience. I was around in 1978 when the “blacks” had the curse of caine lifted. I was around when the Book of Mormon was changed to remove “black curse” references. I have read the “Journal of Discourses”. You can deny the history of the LDS church, but you can NOT erase the facts!
I hope the youth of the LDS church are wiser, kinder, and more decent. I hope the church leadership eventually acknowledges its errors and stupidity. I just see them evolving slowly out of pressure from decent human beings. I don’t see them enlightened by the wisdom of a kind and loving God.
H_H
Chris Buttars is an unmitigated jackass.
Chris Buttars is a perfect example of a bigot whose time has more than come.
Why did utah elect this closet racist ultra christian conservative bigot!? i feel shame for this man he doesnt speak for me nor should he speak for Utahns he is an embarrassment!
Butters is an ignorant bigot. Plain and simple. But please realize that HE IS NOT UTAH.
Stop assuming he speaks for the rest of us.