Republican congressional candidate in FL reminds us that black people cant swim

[e-brake]

A video clip in which Republican Tramm Hudson makes negative comments about the swimming abilities of black people spread across the Internet on Thursday, drawing an apology from his campaign and a mix of reactions from challengers and local black leaders.

The 27-second clip, first posted on the conservative Web site redstate.com, shows a portion of a speech the 13th District congressional candidate gave at a Christian Coalition forum in February. In the segment, Hudson, a former Army commander, recalls leading his infantry company across a river during a training exercise.

"A large number were black," Hudson said. "I grew up in Alabama. I understand, uh, I know from experience, that blacks are not the greatest swimmers or may not even know how to swim."

Hudson apologized for the comments in a statement issued by his campaign.

"I said something stupid," he said. "I apologize for it and would apologize in person to anyone hurt by my comments. To those who are understandably offended, you have my deepest apologies, and I want you to know that it was out of character for me and those who know me know that to be a fact. This was a thoughtless remark that does not reflect my lifetime commitment to treating everyone fairly and without bias."

Late Thursday, the origin of the video clip remained unclear. Both Hudson's words and the video's mysterious appearance in the final, vitriolic weeks of a five-way Republican primary battle for Katherine Harris' old seat prompted a flurry of speculation and finger-pointing.

In a statement, Republican rival Vern Buchanan blasted Hudson for the remarks and said they would undercut his ability to beat the Democratic nominee in the general election.

"I am appalled by Tramm's insensitive racial remarks and glad that he apologized," Buchanan said. "However, an apology doesn't change the reality of a person's beliefs or of the political dynamics in the 13th Congressional District. Tramm's divisive negative campaign was already hurting our chances to win this fall, but his remarks destroy any chance he'd have to talk about real issues."

Earlier in the week in a televised debate, Buchanan accused Hudson of going negative and spreading lies about him in TV commercials, mailings and on a Web site. They accuse Buchanan of shady business dealings and resume doctoring.

Nancy Detert, who is also running in the primary, joined in criticizing Hudson.

"I'm surprised," Detert said. "I would say he's got a lot of 'splainin to do. Especially being from Alabama, I think he should be more sensitive."

Some leaders of the black community joined in the criticism, while others came to Hudson's defense.

"It brings into question his leadership ability to be in the U.S. Congress by saying stuff like that," said Johnnie Hunter, president of the SaraMana Black Republican Club.

Trevor Harvey, president of the Sarasota NAACP and a friend of Hudson's, said the comments were out of character and taken out of context. Hudson is a fellow participant in a weekly, interracial Bible study, Harvey said.

Hudson, a six-year president of the Sarasota County GOP, also has worked to bring blacks and other minorities into the local party's ranks. The comments, Harvey said, are "just not his character."

"That's not the Tramm Hudson that I know," Harvey said. "I would be very interested in hearing the entire statement or his entire speech."

Hudson's campaign said the comments should be taken in context. In the February speech, Hudson told the story of a black man in his infantry company who nearly drowned while they crossed a river in a training exercise, according to a more complete transcript released by the campaign.

In the transcript, Hudson talks about leading a religious service the day after the incident, Sunday.

"That soldier could have died," the transcript quotes Hudson as saying. "I believe it was divine intervention.

The transcript shows that the anecdote was meant to illustrate why Hudson wouldn't support a bill that would prohibit military chaplains from proselytizing.

Hudson campaign manager Fred Piccolo suggested that the Buchanan campaign had circulated the clip, saying Buchanan's manager was the only person, other than himself, videotaping the forum that day.

"I don't know how it got out, but it's rather suspicious," Piccolo said. "There were only two people taping this meeting, and one of them was us."

Buchanan's spokesman, Tommy Hopper, denied that, saying Hudson had "a great story to tell," though it was overshadowed by the inappropriate remarks.

"It was an ugly thing to say," said Hopper. "It was inappropriate. It was wrong. It was all of those things."

The comments have some precedent. In 1987, when Ted Koppel asked baseball executive Al Campanis on ABC's "Nightline" why there were few black managers and no black general managers, Campanis said black people "may not have some of the necessities" for the positions. He also said that blacks are often poor swimmers "because they don't have the buoyancy." He resigned two days later.

Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida, said Thursday's Hudson flap illustrated the changes that the Internet and blogosphere had brought to politics.

"It becomes reality in two seconds or less," said MacManus. "... It becomes truth whether it's taken out of context or not."

MacManus hesitated to predict what effect the video might have on the primary race.

"It's certainly not the death knell, but it's not something you want to happen this close to Sept. 5."

Herald-Tribune political writer Jeremy Wallace contributed to this story.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pb...NEWS/608180805

[e-brake]

Almost forgot to mention, this is the guy the GOP picked to replace Katherine Harris on the election ticket......is everyone in that district insane or what?

[Hey Bubu]

HAHAH fucking priceless. What a moron.

I love the whole, gotta be taken within context bit.

Lets see, it's my experience that all white folks from the south are inbreeds..

[Funkenstein]

Well since he wasn't experienced with Hispanics enough to chastise them, he turned to his neighbors he grew up "so well" with.

I hope he knows that he has inspired us to take over that sport as well now.

We're working on NASCAR now and diving later.

Moving from the motor pool to the swimming pool, beeyatches!!!

[Dionysos]

Anybody that's watched an episode of Fear Factor knows he's right.

[Xodiac]

Hah, what a jerk, that's so racist. Not to mention stupid. Let me ask you something, sir, just how the hell did all those black people get here from Africa if they can't swim??

[molecule]

its a social problem. His comments may be very insensitive, but its NO secret that the african american population in the US has a major problem with not teaching their children to swim. Knowing how to swim can one day save your life. Does everyone remember the horrible inncident in Fort Worth where all those black kids died in the fountain cause one kid fell in who couldnt swim, and then several others including adults that could not swim jumped in and died as well?

study after study has been done on this subject and there are programs all over the country targeted at fixing this problem.

It has nothing to do with Racism, it has everything to do with saving kids lives.

DUH

[Funkenstein]

Originally Posted by molecule

its a social problem. His comments may be very insensitive, but its NO secret that the african american population in the US has a major problem with not teaching their children to swim.

DUH

You do know this is 2006, right?

If this was 1896 and Massa George was threatening that reading, writing, and swimming would get you killed, I could understand.

This kind of thing only occurs in SOME extremely rural parts of the states. To use that small town logic on a national scale is what is the really DUH point.

[Hey Bubu]

Originally Posted by Dionysos

Anybody that's watched an episode of Fear Factor knows he's right.

[molecule]

Originally Posted by Rufus P. Funk

You do know this is 2006, right?

If this was 1896 and Massa George was threatening that reading, writing, and swimming would get you killed, I could understand.

This kind of thing only occurs in SOME extremely rural parts of the states. To use that small town logic on a national scale is what is the really DUH point.

Rufus, thats just not true. The problem is most evident in the inner cities. study after study has been done on this issue, again, it has nothing to do with Racism.

the results of a simple google search:

http://www.aquaticsintl.com/2005/oct...minority2.html

http://www.joburg.org.za/2003/sept/sep10_pool.stm

http://www.wral.com/health/9632686/detail.html


"During 2002–2003, the overall age-adjusted fatal drowning rate for African Americans was 1.25 times higher than for whites."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=5529180

There is so much information and organizations out there to combat this problem, its amazing to me that people still fail to acknowledge that there is a problem.

[Funkenstein]

Originally Posted by molecule

"During 2002–2003, the overall age-adjusted fatal drowning rate for African Americans was 1.25 times higher than for whites."

There is so much information and organizations out there to combat this problem, its amazing to me that people still fail to acknowledge that there is a problem.

Pardon my making fun of it earlier, but I'll make one last statement in a light manner before addressing the serious:

I'm so glad that a number of people are paying attention to how well we die compared to others.



Now back to the serious. Take the locale and the candidate's background. You and I can't know the full intent or reasoning behind it, but if I were to guess, I'd say that the gentleman in question probably doesn't know about these organizations either (especially if he had to issue an apology). Just because you attend interracial Bible study doesn't mean that you accept in your heart. I could attend a Klan rally and wear gloves and still be there.



It will take a better spin doctor to convince me of otherwise in this case. At least again (in seriousness) people are noticing this and trying to correct it or at least help prevent it.

- Da Ruf

[molecule]

I'm guessing the guy apologized simply to minimize damage, because many are over sensitive to racial issues and comments, and many are quick to jump at a chance to call a republican a racist. That being well known, He was an idiot to make such a statement. I can't judge the man on weather or not he's a racist because I don't know him personally. You seem to be guessing that the guy is a racist because he's a Republican from Alabama?? What shall we call that train of thought?

keep that funk alive Rufus just having fun here too.
and remember, last time I checked, James Brown is a Republican

[tricky]

asians are good at math

[Dionysos]

Rufus, here's more for you:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/drown.htm

Groups at Risk

* Males: In 2003, males accounted for 80% of fatal drownings in the United States (CDC 2005).
* Children: In 2003, 782 children ages 0 to 14 years died from drowning (CDC 2005). Although drowning rates have slowly declined (Branche 1999), drowning remains the second-leading cause of injury-related death for children ages 1 to 14 years (CDC 2005).
* African Americans: Factors such as the environment (e.g., access to swimming pools) may contribute to the racial differences in drowning rates between African Americans and white Americans (Branche et al. 2004). During 2002–2003, the overall age-adjusted fatal drowning rate for African Americans was 1.25 times higher than for whites (CDC 2005). However, these rates vary by age. During this time, African-American infants under one year had a fatal drowning rate slightly higher than the drowning rate of white infants (CDC 2005). Most infants drown in bathtubs, toilets, or household buckets. Among children 1 to 4 years of age, African Americans had a lower fatal drowning rate than whites. Drownings in this age group typically happen in residential swimming pools. African-American children ages 5 to 19 years fatally drowned at 2.3 times the rate of white children in this age group during 2002–2003 (CDC 2005). As children get older, drownings often occur in open water areas such as ponds, lakes, and rivers. If African Americans participate less in water-related activities than whites, their drowning rates (per exposure) may be higher than currently reported (Branche et al. 2004).

Saying black people can't swim is generally true, and you can back it up by facts. So it's not necessarily racist, but probably insensitive. Now if the guy's saying they can't ever learn to swim just because they're black, that's something entirely different.

BTW, check out the Fark discussion on this report:
http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comm...IDLink=2238272

Check out all the boot camp stories specifically.

[Funkenstein]

Originally Posted by molecule

You seem to be guessing that the guy is a racist because he's a Republican from Alabama?? What shall we call that train of thought?

Damn it.

/writes 100 times "Not all White Alabamans/Mississipians are blueblood rednecks" on the wall

Originally Posted by molecule

keep that funk alive Rufus just having fun here too.
and remember, last time I checked, James Brown is a Republican

Dude, when I found that out, I damn near hit the floor. Then I remembered how crazy he was sometimes and figured it was in line with his party of choice.

Originally Posted by Dionysos

Rufus, here's more for you:

Check out all the boot camp stories specifically.

Hmmmmm. Interesting read, Jonny. Thanks for the links, gentlemen.

So being able to swim is makes me a proud carrier for the black race? Where are my accolades and women?

I shall bring this up at the next Congo 1 meeting.