Washington Post writer: 'Conventional people' repress 'gag reflex' over biracial de Blasios
theGRIO REPORT - Richard Cohen made the remark while describing the Republican 2016 contenders who will likely compete in that year's Iowa Caucuses...
Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen is under fire for his latest piece, in which he claims “people with conventional views” are repressing a “gag reflex” when they see New York City’s mayor-elect Bill de Blasio, his African-American wife and biracial children.
He also alludes to the future first lady of NYC’s past sexual orientation in an arguably negative light.
Cohen made the remarks while describing the Republican 2016 contenders who will likely compete in that year’s Iowa Caucuses:
Today’s GOP is not racist, as Harry Belafonte alleged about the tea party, but it is deeply troubled — about the expansion of government, about immigration, about secularism, about the mainstreaming of what used to be the avant-garde. People with conventional views must repress a gag reflex when considering the mayor-elect of New York — a white man married to a black woman and with two biracial children. (Should I mention that Bill de Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray, used to be a lesbian?) This family represents the cultural changes that have enveloped parts — but not all — of America. To cultural conservatives, this doesn’t look like their country at all.
This is not the first time Cohen has waded into racial rhetoric that readers have found troubling.
Back in July, while writing about the death of Trayvon Martin, he claimed the unarmed teen was “understandably suspected” of being a criminal because he was black.
And in 1986, Cohen wrote, “In cities like Washington and New York, the menace comes from young black males. Both blacks and whites believe those young black males are the ones most likely to bop them over the head.”
