Foot-in-Mouth Disease (Cont.) : ‘Sorry’ doesn’t excuse politicians who utter ethnic slurs

Well, one thing you can say about some politicians in multicultural California: they manage to offend on an equal-opportunity basis.

The latest chapter in the saga, “Politicians with Foot-in-Mouth Disease,” belongs to Assemblywoman Kathleen M. Honeycutt (R-Hesperia). Honeycutt, seeking to explain during a televised legislative hearing how a negotiator might gain financial advantage over another, said, “It gives the contractor great leverage to kind of Jew down the subcontractor if he is going to have to wait for the money.”

Honeycutt paused, but completed her remarks. After she finished Assemblyman Byron D. Sher (D-Palo Alto) told her he found the term “Jew down” offensive. She apologized. But how easily stereotypes take hold and become part of everyday thought and speech.

Recall that there seems to be a disturbing pattern among elected officials who do or say something hurtful and foolish first, think later and then all insist they didn’t mean it the way it came out. Earlier this year Assemblyman William J. (Pete) Knight (R-Palmdale) circulated a racist poem from a constituent about Latino illegal immigrants. Later a San Jose city councilwoman referred to Latinos as “pit bulls” and used her fingers to pull her eyes into slits while referring to Asians.

The latest offense by Honeycutt prompted a letter signed by about a dozen lawmakers. The letter appropriately asked: “How can we expect the people of our state to act to end the evil of racism and hate crimes when leaders are guilty of promoting racism?”

How indeed. In the case of Knight, San Jose City Councilwoman Kathy Cole and now Honeycutt, apologies were issued after the fact. But “sorry” somehow doesn’t quite take back the insidious effects of uttering racist poems and ethnic slurs.