Michigan state Rep. Bettie Cook Scott has issued an apology after news of her using racial slurs against her Asian opponent, Rep. Stephanie Chang, surfaced.
According to the Detroit Metro Times, more than a dozen community groups demanded the apology after Scott allegedly referenced Chang as "ching-chang" and "the ching-chong" during the election. Both Chang and Scott were on the ballot for state senator in the Democratic primary. Chang came out victorious with 49 percent of the vote while Scott came in third with 11 percent of the vote.
"These comments are offensive to all Asian-Americans," Chang told the Metro Times. "It isn't about me. It's about an elected official disrespecting entire populations, whether they be Asian-American, immigrant or residents of Sen. District 1 or [Cook's] own current house district."
In addition to the racial slurs, Scott is also accused of having called one of Chang's campaign volunteers an “immigrant,” saying “you don’t belong here” and “I want you out of my country.”
Chang's husband, Sean Gray, who happens to be a black man, heard the remarks by Scott and asked that she not speak about his wife in such a way, to which Scott showed less remorse and more wrath, calling him a "fool" for marrying her.
When Kalaya Long, a volunteer with Voices of Women to Win, heard Scott tell a voter they "don't need to vote for that ching-chang," she said she was taken aback.
"As an African American woman, I've been called the N-word before in my life, and you never forget it," Long told the Metro Times. "Each time, it's shocking and appalling and disgusting, so when you hear someone that's a minority and a woman using slurs against another minority that's a woman, it's just mind-boggling, and it just felt dirty."
Groups who called for an apology include Michigan's Asian & Pacific Islander American Vote, The Association of Chinese-Americans, the African Bureau of Immigration & Social Affairs, American Citizens for Justice, the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation and Equality Michigan.
Since then, Scott has issued a statement saying that she "deeply regrets" her remarks.
"I deeply regret the comments I made that have proven hurtful to so many," Scott said in a statement through her representative, Bill Noakes. "Those are words I never should have said. I humbly apologize to Representative Chang; her husband, Mr. Gray; and to the broader Asian American community for those disparaging remarks. In the divisive age we find ourselves in, I should not contribute further to that divisiveness."
"I have reached out to Representative Chang to meet with her so that I may apologize to her in person. I pray she and the Asian American community can find it in their hearts to forgive me," her statement concluded.
Whether Chang will publicly accept Scott's apology is unknown; however, her victory in the primary feels like karma.
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