Senator Das: Just how racist are Washington’s Democrat Senators?

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Washington State Freshman Senator Mona Das has generated a substantial amount of attention recently with her comments at a Kent Chamber of Commerce meeting a few weeks ago (June 20th) where she claimed that her fellow Democratic Party Senators (presumably just those who identify as “white’’), were unapologetic racists behind closed doors.  Here is the Senator’s exact quote about what happens when the Democrat Party Senators close their door for private (caucus) meetings:

“After they close that door, that’s when it gets real. That’s when my 28 colleagues got real. And that’s when I heard hate, misogyny and racism and sexism from people you would not expect. That’s the type of light I want to shine. Now, when there are eight people of color in the Senate Democratic caucus, it was coded language – ‘those people.’ They would say things that were coded.”

June 20, 2019, Senator Mona Das at Kent Chamber of Commerce meeting

This was originally published in the Kent Reporter by Stephen Hunter on June 25^th (see article here).  Presumably after criticism from her fellow Democratic Party Senators (after all, what happens behind closed caucus doors stays behind closed caucus doors), Senator Das attempted to accuse the reporter of getting the story wrong and misquoting her.  However, that accusation didn’t last long because there was an inconvenient video of the whole episode, which proved the reporter quoted Senator Das exactly right (see video here). 

This, then led to some attempts to walk back the statement by Senator Das and try to water down her accusations of racism (a little bit) against her fellow Democrat Senators.  Those familiar with the social justice warrior world (see here) wouldn’t be surprised at a dust-up like this, and some may even blame Senator Das for the incident.  However, perhaps Das is right.  Perhaps her fellow Democratic Party Senators do come across as racists when the doors are closed and they don’t believe anyone is watching.  Who knows?

Senator Das has probably received a bit of political heat from her fellow Democrat colleagues, who presumably don’t want to be labeled as racists.  However, is it possible Senator Das has a point?  Underneath the self-pity and victimhood expressed in her speech to the Kent Chamber a few weeks ago, perhaps she is just reacting to the way her fellow Democrats tend to speak.  As recently reported in a study at Yale (Dupree, C. H., & Fiske, S. (2018, September 7). “Self-Presentation in Interracial Settings: The Competence Downshift by White Liberals.”), it appears that self-identified white liberals would “dumb-down” their language when speaking to audiences or people who  they viewed  as “non-white.”  Evidence of this change in language was most famously seen in Hillary Clinton’s speeches (see video here), and even more recently by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez when speaking at a recent Al Sharpton’s National Action Network event (see video here). 

In my undergrad days long ago at Columbia College, my friends and I wanted to start a Libertarian club on campus in response to the Socialist domination of the campus political scene.  The college bureaucracy at the time made that process a challenge, so, like true committed activists, we  just took over the College Republicans instead.  We became a very active student group on campus, and at one point, we invited Dean Jack Greenberg, to speak to us about the success and failures of affirmative action at one of our weekly meetings. Greenberg at the time was Dean of our college (1989-1993), and an accomplished attorney who had represented Martin Luther King Jr., and was probably best known for his role in litigating Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 civil rights case in which the high court rejected “separate but equal”. 

We held our meetings in a classroom in Hamilton Hall in the evening, and the door was propped open.  We noticed Dean Greenberg pass our room a few times out in the hall, and I went out to get him.  When he walked into the room he looked around and said “You don’t look like College Republicans.”  He pointed at me and said I looked like a College Republican, but hardly anyone else in the group did.  I was a little surprised at this and I looked at our group of us in the meeting, and I realized that because well over 50% of our group did not appear to be white males, in his eyes we couldn’t be “Republicans.”  It was a bit shocking at the time.  We had a great discussion with Dean Greenberg.  He was knowledgeable and approachable.  After he left, I remember discussing how Dean Greenberg didn’t realize how insulting he was when he presumed that he could determine political viewpoint just by outward appearance or skin color. 

Perhaps Senator Das was clumsily referring to this same Liberal/Leftist mindset which has permeated the Democratic Party’s senior political leadership which presumes to categorize people’s political beliefs or viewpoints solely based on the pigment of their skin when she made her comments at the Kent Chamber a few weeks ago.  This reflex of viewing everything through a prism of race, victimhood, and patronizing arrogance might very well cause some of Senator Das’s Democrat politician colleagues  to “dumb down” their language when they speak because they do indeed judge everyone primarily by the color of their skin rather than the content of their character.

Of course, politicians, just like anyone, will make mistakes or misstatements when they speak.  Senator Das clearly regrets some of her comments that day and will probably be more careful when she speaks in the future.  Fortunately for the reporter, there was a video to prove his article was accurate.  There are no videos (yet) from behind closed Democrat caucus doors in Olympia to prove or disprove the veracity of Senator Das’ claims.  However, it would be nice to believe that regardless of how racist some Democrats might be in the Washington State Senate, perhaps they can make decisions that benefit all the people of Washington State rather than divide citizens into superficial categories based on skin color.  This is an unconventional thought in politics today, and it may very well be heresy in the Democratic Party.  However, until the thought police have total control, it seems a suggestion worth offering.

I didn’t find Senator Das’s comments about her racist colleagues in Olympia to be the most shocking aspect of her speech to the Kent Chamber.  Her speech was tone deaf when it came to how many in her district will perceive it.  Complaining about her workload as a part time legislator in Olympia is not unusual in itself, but her description of contemplating her political objectives while enjoying a vacation on the beaches of Hawaii, a costly vacation that many of her constituents have never experienced, seems unlikely to generate the sympathy she is seeking.  Perhaps Senator Das should spend a little more time on a Hawaiian beach understanding how the massive tax increases she just imposed on her constituents a few months ago will prevent many of them from ever enjoying a similar vacation in the future.  Maybe the good senator could shift from a social justice warrior, race-obsessed view of the world and start to realize her votes for higher taxes and more abusive government are hurting people off all races in this state.  If she makes the attempt to represent all people in her district, and stop punishing them with higher taxes, perhaps she will find even her fellow racist Democrat Senators might start doing the same.

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Background articles and documents:

Kent Reporter – June 25, 2019 – “Das claims racism, sexism during closed-door legislative meetings in Olympia”

Kent Reporter – June 26, 2019 – “Racist, sexist claims by Das cause racket in Olympia”

Kent Chamber of Commerce – June 20, 2019 – video of Senator Mona Das comments (8min)

Washington State Wire – June 26, 2019 – “Mona Das: meetings in the legislature full of “hate, misogyny, racism and sexism”

AP – June 26, 2019 – “The Latest: Senator clarifies comments about sexism, racism“

(Dupree, C. H., & Fiske, S. (2018, September 7). “Self-Presentation in Interracial Settings: The Competence Downshift by White Liberals.”)

Tribute to Jack Greenberg – Stars and Stripes – October 13, 2016 – “Iwo Jima vet Jack Greenberg, civil rights lawyer who helped argue Brown v. Board, dies at 91”