White GOP Rep Calls 77-Year-Old Black Congressman 'Boy'

[RandySF]

Tennessee Republican Rep. Diana Harshbarger has come under fire for referring to Texas Democrat Al Green, a 77-year-old Black man, as “boy.”

Green generated headlines for interrupting and pointing his cane at President Donald Trump to protest proposed cuts to Medicaid during his annual address to Congress in February, which earned him a censure from the House of Representatives.

“Al Green was over here with his cane and I’m like, ‘Gosh dang it, boy,’” Harshbarger said, recalling the moment. “He does not need that cane. That cane is a prop. I swear it’s not real.”

The use of “boy” in reference to a Black man is widely regarded as racially coded (depending, of course, on the speaker and tone of voice). Courts have ruled as such, and civil rights groups have said, “If not a proxy for ‘n----r,’ it is at the very least a close cousin.”




https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-gop-rep-calls-77-year-old-black-congressman-boy/

[Norrrm]

1. She got over that DEI stuff pretty easily, eh?

Even though her own party considers her to be DEI, taking a man's job.

[Skittles]

2. questioning his use of a cane is disgusting too

WTF

[slightlv]

6. That's one of the first things I thought of,

once I picked my jaw up off the floor. At 77, he does, indeed, no doubt need his cane. I'm 69 and go nowhere without mine anymore!

[Retrograde]

8. same here

I'm a septuagenarian who uses a cane in hilly places. I don't usually use it around home, which is largely flat, but it's helpful when I go to San Francisco.

[Tom Dyer]

23. Cane here.

But I need a walker to take my dog out.
65.

[sakabatou]

3. Hey, Harshbarger, you forgot your white hood and robe

[soldierant]

10. I believe the KKK

has pretty strict gender rules. I don't so a woman being allowed a robe and hood. She should be baking cookies instead.

[sakabatou]

13. While barefoot and pregnant?

[Marcuse]

24. Women have a segregated auxiliary so as to have no authority over european men

https://daily.jstor.org/a-brief-history-of-the-womens-kkk/

[3catwoman3]

27. Any time you have to hide your face while doing something, you are doing...

...something you shouldn't be doing.

Exception granted for Halloween, Mardi Gras and the like.

[PedroXimenez]

4. Rep. Green's press conference now Live (also addressing an anti-gay slur Harshbarger made)

[NCgayguy]

5. When will we ever get past this?

My parents used that term, "boy", when I grew up. Even as a child I knew it was wrong! I won't tell you guys what my dad did when he found out my best friends at school were black. There are always going to be some people calling others names thinking it makes them seem superior but it actually has the opposite effect, unless the listeners are the uneducated trumpers.

Sorry, that slur really gets to me!

edit: both slurs are bad, but "boy" really gets me hot under the collar!

[TomSlick]

7. The stupid is strong with this one.

[BidenRocks]

9. That's what DEI training is/was for!

It makes you think before spouting stupid shit!

[Beacool]

11. I always laugh when people get offended when someone says that the U.S. is racist.

This is the most racist and xenophobic first world country. Yet, a lot of Americans have no self-awareness whatsoever about their own country. They believe the propaganda that the U.S. is always good, that we're "the land of the free". Yeah, go tell that to people who were enslaved until 1865, and then discriminated for the following a hundred years or so. Go tell that to women, who just had their reproductive freedom taken away from them. Go tell that to the gay and tran communities.

Please....

[GainesT1958]

17. Germany was (and parts of it still is)...

Giving us a pretty good run for our money in that department...🤔😒

[LuvLoogie]

31. The Nazis used the U. S. as an example

They studied the way we systematically oppressed, murdered, enslaved, stole.

[anamnua]

12. In my country (Ireland)

Last edited Wed Apr 23, 2025, 06:21 AM - Edit history (1)

'boy' is a term of affection for males of all ages, shapes and sizes. This can lead to misunderstandings with African-American tourists

[wordstroken]

14. Unbelievable on so many levels. Still trying to wrap my head around the disrespect and evil behavior of so many repubs.

Rep. Green is a strong leader, and she doesn’t qualify to bring him coffee.

🦋 wordstroken

[Comrade Citizen]

15. It's about respect

You will always be the Honorable Rep. Al Green and Judge Al Green, Harris Co. JP for Pct. 7, Pos. 2 to me.

[Tickle]

16. It's a saying, yes from down south

Often used in frustration, surprise or scolding . It isn't racially coded,

[RandiFan1290]

18. Still spreading your bullshit?

bless your heart

[Tickle]

21. Just calling like I see it

They use it regardless of skin color, but it doesn't fit the narrative I guess.

[Srkdqltr]

33. Narative no, you dont call an adult man boy, its disrespectful. Particularly not in public.

She was using boy as a disrespect as she was saying his cane was a prop was disrespect.

[Cha]

35. Yeah, "call it like you see it". that's doesn't mean

you're right.

And, in this case you're wrong.

[Torchlight]

20. In Texas, it's at best, a dog whistle.

More commonly, we know what it means and we know who hides behind it.

[Keepthesoulalive]

28. I've lived in the south for years

To call a black man boy is an insult. It was an insult to call any person of color boy , it was denigrating and a reminder to keep your place . Imagine a black man calling a white man boy, before the civil rights movement you would wind up in jail or worse. She knew damn well what she was saying and she intended to humiliate him. I met Jim Crow so I know the dog whistles.

[Marcuse]

36. No doubt at all. Sen. Robert Byrd showed his slip by arguing a racist slur was in fact racially neutral.

Byrd apologized. She will not. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/03/05/sen-byrd-apologizes-for-racial-remarks/6dd86f94-c452-4548-815b-acf320b01c24/

[Whiskeytide]

30. Nope. Southern born and raised here. It certainly has ...

… many meanings based on context - but to say it’s not racially coded is simply wrong. It is a very common substitute for more overtly racist terms when directed at a black male. It was perhaps more frequently used in the past, but I still hear it today.

[Cha]

34. Please Stop Excusing Harshburger... It's an Insult to

to Black Men like Forever.

[Kid Berwyn]

19. Racist pharmacist uses Congress job to get rich, too.

Family Fraud, insider trading, crypto thievery of campaign funds, normal ol’ NAZI-MAGA.

[Iamscrewed]

22. End

If this doesn't end her misrepresentation to her "constituents what will

[SupportSanity]

25. If I were in the position to be called boy,

I’d always have several special cigars on me.

Call me boy and I’d give you a cigar, one of my
special “It’s a Boy” classics.

I’ll show you boy!

[malaise]

26. Response press conference

[Buddyzbuddy]

29. Tennessee, enough said.

[Cha]

32. She is a Dumb Ass Harshburger! A Nothing Burger.