People of the world, here's something you should never, ever, under any circumstances ever ever argue for: the existence of slavery. Ever.
Somehow, Cliven Bundy—best known as the stubborn rancher and conservative icon who's refused to remove his cattle from federally protected land—failed to receive this memo that we all got in like, utero. At a recent event with supporters, he said the following of African-Americans. (No seriously. He said this.)
They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.
GOP supporters have quickly dropped their support for the hate-mongering renegade, but that doesn't change the fact that these words were spoken to begin with, because (oh. god.) people actually, truly, deep-down think this way. And while some have argued that the racist musings of some random, ignorant racist shithead shouldn't be news, we would actually argue the opposite.
Remember, we live in a world in which people earnestly argue things like "Obama was elected—racism is clearly dead!" It's important to remember that racism is far from six feet under, and we absolutely, passionately must continue to galvanize for change.
It's 2014, you guys. These words happened. (Watch below.)
Image: YouTube
