“As a society, we pay a price for our silence. Unchallenged personal, cultural, and institutional racism results in the loss of human potential, lowered productivity, and a rising tide of fear and violence in our society. Individually, racism stifles our own growth and development. It clouds our vision and distorts our perceptions. It alienates us not only from others but also from ourselves and our own experience.” -Beverly Daniel Tatum
Have you ever heard the name Chris Buttars? Well, neither had I until this week when—while laid up and suffering from what I thought was sure to result in my untimely death—I stopped in at blurbomat between fevers. I frequent the site for several reasons: Blurb’s a great and inspirational photographer who’s been known to offer generous pointers and detailed how-tos; he’s a musician with an ear tuned to what’s great in the music scene; and he writes with honesty, humor and openness about marriage and parenthood, which I think is über-cool for those of us who dig the perspective of an über-cool man.
But what I really like about his site is that he frequently highlights the outrageousness of politics in my home state. I haven’t lived in Utah for a long time and am fairly well disconnected from Salt Lake City, where I grew up. But there are people in Salt Lake who helped raise me to be the proper heathen that I am, so I have a small, warmly lit corner for it in the chambers of my wildly radical heart. I do like to keep up with the Joneses, or Allreds, as it were. (Full disclosure: Allred is my maiden name, and somehow my genes can be linked back to Brigham Young. And, no, I’m not Mormon.)
After visiting the doctor, getting a shit-ton of pharmaceuticals to prevent my impending death (i.e., treat my pneumonia) and a partial return to the land of the living, I found I could blink at my computer screen again without the feeling of a Whack-a-Mole mallet repeatedly striking the crown of my head. And that’s when I encountered the death knell, via blurbomat, that is Republican Utah state Sen. Chris Buttars. That’s when I actually died. Right then. My heart just stopped. I’m writing this post-mortem. Here’s the skinny:
This past week, the Utah Senate was busy debating a bill that state Sen. Howard Stephenson disliked and referred to as an “ugly baby.” The metaphor was contagious, and other senators echoed it as they took turns opposing the measure. When Sen. Buttars got the mic, he offered his own charming twist. “This baby is black,” he said. “It is a dark, ugly thing.”
Whaaaaa?
Rewind, rewind! Oh no, he di-un’t!
Well, yes, in fact—he did. Read it again. I super-duper enjoy the part where he defines the black baby as being “dark” to head off any confusion as to how truly vile the black baby is. If he’d said, “It is a café au lait, ugly thing,” surely his statement wouldn’t have had nearly the same impact. But I’m thinking Buttars doesn’t see shades or tones or nuance. I’m thinking he just sees white against black and that’s good enough for him.
According to The Salt Lake Tribune—the more liberal of the two local papers in the state’s capitol—“[Democratic] Sen. Ross Romero approached Senate President John Valentine with concerns about the offensive remark and, when senators returned, Buttars apologized, but insisted it was not meant to be racist.”
“I made a comment that I think a lot of people could take racist.” (A moment of silence, please, for the senator who can’t form a proper sentence.) Carry on, Senator: “I certainly did not mean that in any way but it was wrong and certainly could easily have been taken that way,” Buttars said. “I apologize to anyone who took offense… I ask for your forgiveness.”
The Mormon-owned Desert Morning News—the more conservative of the two papers—headlined its version of the story, “Buttars apologizes for potentially racist comment.” It reported that Buttars told his colleagues, “I just got my mouth a little bit ahead of my brain here.” Indeed. Where is that pesky I’m-out-in-public-now editing switch when you most need it, Mr. Public Figure?
This news, which caused my death, led me to do a little research in my afterlife. Surprise, surprise—this isn’t the first time Buttars’ mouth has gotten out of the gates while his brain was still back digestin’ the cud. This is simply the first time he’s apologized, tepid as it was since it pertained only to those “who took offense.”
In a radio interview in August 2006, Buttars declared that the landmark ruling Brown vs. Board of Education was wrong. When the interviewer pressed him to explain his stance, he refused and told the interviewer to “one day call me again and we’ll take a half hour on that one.” Buttars refused to return any follow-up calls.
Like any bigot worth his salt, Buttars also has a thing against the gays. He vowed to go “all the way” (my insides tickle at that one) in fighting an initiative to repeal Utah’s sodomy statute and—call me fruit-loopy—but it sounds like his interest may stem from personal experience: “You can like sodomy, I don’t. I think sodomy is sickening.” Buttars also authored a bill to amend Utah’s Constitution to ban gay marriage and worked obsessively to establish legislation banning LGBT clubs and gay-straight alliances in schools, clubs he believes are “tearing down the moral fabric of society.”
I was already stiff with rigor mortis when I learned he’s a big pusher of revising biology textbooks to include “divine intervention” and that he sponsored a bill that would allow police to withhold misconduct reports from the public.
Few things infuriate me more than small-minded people with too much power and the small-minded people who elect and re-elect the former. This guy is a racist paid to represent the people of Utah. I know people of Utah. I am people of Utah. We’re good people, many of us. And the Democratic Utoids—as I call them—made me very, very proud on Super Tuesday as they showed the rest of the country that they don’t share Buttars’ beliefs. But what of the other Utoids?
As of last Thursday, the regional president of the NAACP called for Butthead’s resignation, but that’s about where demand for accountability stops. Gov. John Huntsman refuses to say the comment was inappropriate. The Senate is aligned to do nothing. As of this writing, there’s not been a peep from the Mormon Church to ameliorate the damage inflicted by one of its members; the church is complicit in its silence. I, for one, will roll over in my grave if the Mormons actually jump into the fray and call him out on this one.
(As published today, sans beginning quote, in San Diego CityBeat.)
17 responses so far ↓
1 caroline // Feb 19, 2008 at 9:28 pm
hey girl…looks like the meds are getting your brain work again. GREAT WRITING. What an asshole that guy is (you put it more eloquently though). I put a picture for you on my blog (psssttt…it’s of Javier).
xx
Caroline
2 caroline // Feb 19, 2008 at 9:29 pm
looks like my meds are not making my brain work though..since the grammar in aforesaid comment sucks..sorry ’bout that.
3 truth speaker // Feb 20, 2008 at 6:25 am
hey there you free speech phony, yeah right…YOU!!!and pull your pants up!!
you are a hypocrite liar who publicly preaches free speech (except when it is something with which you disagree)but who really hates open discourse.
let’s see how stupid you people really are: (rules of the truly stupid souless morons):
1. anyone who might say, “hey, you have a black mark on your {record}{shirt} {soul}” is a racist devil to be destroyed.
If i say “that black mark on your record is one ugly baby” I should have my gonads removed by a team of man hating lesbian trasgendered half elf midgets with a speech impediment.
Pay attention to which media outlets are pumping up this story. These are the enemies of free speech.
2. Only black people can use the word “lynched”, even if they live in Lynchberg, Tenn. or Lynchberg, Va. And they should be fired if they aren’t black. All whites who are named Lynch must be sent to a concentration camp run by …. you get the idea.
3. If i say “white lie” I am a racist who must be destroyed, unless I am a homo, woman, oriental, indio, or….anything besides a white male.
This reminds me of the lynching of Don Imus. And that was concocted to discipline the talk show host roster to not speak ill of Hillary.
4 Leta // Feb 20, 2008 at 6:36 am
Oh, dear, aaryn, the troll has followed you, too, which the same, tired, illogical comment that has appeared twice now, over at Jon’s. Please evict this P.O.S.
5 Prof J // Feb 20, 2008 at 6:42 am
Dear “truth speaker,”
Suck it.
I mean, I believe you have the right to say any vile, racist thing you want to say, but I have the right to call you out on it. Especially if you are a public figure or (god forbid) an elected representative of the people.
Oh, and, Don Imus was not lynched. He was fired.
Just sayin’.
6 aaryn b. // Feb 20, 2008 at 7:16 am
You know what I really dislike? I dislike when people decide to leave comments on my blog—on any blog— that are cruel, derogatory, accusatory, negative, etc., but they dare not back it up with a URL or an email. They think that because they are behind a computer screen, they can fling verbal abuses in any direction.
Such is the case with “truth speaker” above. That comment that he (I’m going to assume it’s a man for sake of brevity) left here is a regurgitation of one left on blurbomat yesterday; apparently, he just keeps copying and pasting the ideas expressed there since he clearly has no original, constructive thought to offer. But I digress.
My point is that, “truth speaker” is a jackass and if you’d like to tell him that, or if you’d just like to flood him with spam, you may do so here: b_roberts76@yahoo.com
To Leta, thank you. For now, I’m going to let this comment by TS stand (another thing I dislike is having to delete comments; I want people to have discourse here, even when they disagree with me). But I may come back later and delet it and I’ll definitely axe any subsequent rants, should he offer them. And also? I’ve loved all of your comments over on Jon’s site. You’re so eloquent and exact.
Professor J, thank you! Way to point out that Imus wasn’t lynched.
7 Melanie at BeanPaste // Feb 20, 2008 at 9:13 am
Aaryn: Well said. Love it. And I particularly love Buttars’ non-apology in the style of “I’m sorry that you’re offended by me and I’m sorry that you’re a huge crybaby, too.”
truth speaker: Thank you for writing something that almost reads like troll parody. From your wild rambling to your bizarre epithets to your total disregard for logic and grammar, I am speechless. Well done.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m late for my local Man-Hating Lesbian Trans-Gendered Half-Elf Midgets With Speech Impediment meeting. It’s my night to bring snacks.
8 Caroline // Feb 20, 2008 at 9:40 am
truth speaker. Please..get a life..you’re words have no power here (I’m plagiarizing Glinda the Good).
9 Caroline // Feb 20, 2008 at 9:41 am
see…still can’t get my grammar right….sorry “YOUR words”
10 bonzize // Feb 20, 2008 at 9:51 am
It’s rather embarrassing to be from Utah this week. If this man (Buttars) seriously believes that anyone would believe his apology, he is way out of touch. But many other Utahs are out of touch. Yesterday, during my lunch-time perusal of the Salt Lake Tribune (sorry Aaryn - it’s gone to the dogs and is a very sorry rag), I commented on our infamous state senator and his racial slurs. Much to my amazement my two co-workers didn’t seem to know much about it, and couldn’t believe HE ACTUALLY SAID IT. On the Senate floor, Well, he did. Thousands of us heard it. I heard it. Yesterday, he was quoted as saying that his enemies had “formed a hate lynch mob.” Ahem, Mr. Buttars, isn’t that like the pot calling the kettle black? I am constantly amazed when ultra conservatives like Mr. Buttars who pride themselves on their religious ethic, are the very ones who behave in a non-Christian manner. Shame on you.
11 Jenn // Feb 20, 2008 at 11:54 am
I want to join the team of man hating lesbian trasgendered half elf midgets with a speech impediment.
do we only get one speech impediment between us?
yowza! good response aaryn!
12 Craig // Feb 20, 2008 at 12:51 pm
bonzize: its unfortunately quite often embarassing to be from utah-believe me I know.
And yes, many utahns are out of touch - especially those who aren’t democrats, who have to stay in-touch to stay alive in this state. The problem is that so many of the moderate conservatives (which is most of the population) just ignore what is happening around them don’t get involved - so the extreme right-wing crazies control everything!
It is so very ironic that those who are “defending morality” are those who behave in the most immoral, despicable manner to get what they want, and don’t care whom they tread upon to get where they want to get. The lds church should censure people who behave in such an un-christian manner.
13 Kris // Feb 20, 2008 at 5:03 pm
I die a little inside each time someone doesn’t realize how much hurt can go into a few poorly chosen words. Thanks for writing this, Aaryn.
14 Cheri // Feb 21, 2008 at 7:23 am
Aaryn~
Never delete that comment, k? You’ll deny someone else the coffee-spurting-out-of-nose laugh that it gave me this morning. Keep on keepin’ on.
XOXOXO
15 Zoe // Feb 24, 2008 at 9:45 am
A great play on race, art, and the media is playing at Mo`olelo Theatre Company. Saw “Permanent Collection” Friday night after hearing about this blog. Check out the website for more information about it. moolelo.net. You’ll be thinking about the questions it raises–and what we can do about it–for a while, but it’s entertaining and not preachy.
You’ve only got until March 16th, so don’t dillydally. You can buy your tickets online too. Mo`olelo has already done a great job with other plays about conflict between and inside cultural comunities, such as Lost Boys of Sudan, adoption, Middle East.
Take time for theatre…
16 Wenderina // Feb 26, 2008 at 9:53 pm
This just hurts. The fact that public servants can still forget they serve the entire public and let their brains go to sleep while their mouth is still working is disheartening.
I’ll all for free speech, debate, and intelligent and healthy disagreement, this was just misplaced humor run amok.
The voting and position history is worse, but not unexpected. Let’s just keep trying to believe that people are continuing to grow - slowly, but surely.
Hopefully Ruby as an adult will walk among a more balanced humanity.
17 Wenderina // Feb 26, 2008 at 9:53 pm
wow, typos continue…”I’m all..”
Leave a Comment