Presidential politics came to the floor of the U.S. House on Thursday, as Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr (D-IL) tried to bring up a resolution condemning Gov. Rick Perry of Texas over the name of a hunting lodge linked to his family.
"Nigger is offensive," Jackson said on the House floor. "Niggerhead is offensive," Jackson added, referring to the name that was painted on a rock at the lodge for years.
Jackson tried to bring up his resolution arguing that it was privileged for immediate action under the rules of the House. The Chair rejected that argument, saying it was not linked in any way to actions of the House of Representatives.
Here is the text of Jackson's resolution:
Condemning Texas Governor Rick Perry for using a secluded West Texas hunting camp as a place to host lawmakers, friends and supporters on hunting trips at a place known by the name painted in block letters across a large, flat rock standing upright at its gated entrance called ‘‘Niggerhead’’.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Mr. JACKSON of Illinois submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on ............
RESOLUTION
Condemning Texas Governor Rick Perry for using a secluded West Texas hunting camp as a place to host lawmakers, friends and supporters on hunting trips at a place known by the name painted in block letters across a large, flat rock standing upright at its gated entrance called ‘‘Niggerhead’’.
Whereas on October 2, 2011, the Washington Post reported a story called ‘‘Rick Perry And A Word Set On Stone’’;
Whereas upon reading that story the vast majority of people in the United States were morally outraged;
Whereas most of the facts in this resolution come from that Washington Post story;
Whereas Governor Rick Perry has described a childhood in Haskell County in Paint Creek, Texas, as centered on Boy Scouts, school, and church;
Whereas Texas Governor Rick Perry is from West Texas and was originally a Southern Democrat – often known as Dixiecrats – who switched parties in the late 1980s to be- come a Republican and is currently a leading Republican presidential candidate;
Whereas ranchers who once grazed cattle on the 1,070-acre parcel in Throckmorton County on the Clear Fork of the Brazos River – near where Governor Perry was raised in Paint Creek, Texas – it has since become a hunting ground that was called by the name ‘‘Niggerhead’’ well before Governor Perry and his father, Ray, began hunt- ing there in the early 1980s even though there is no de- finitive account of when the rock first appeared on the property;
Whereas the use of the term ‘‘Niggerhead’’ to describe a hunting retreat is morally offensive;
Whereas Ronnie Brooks, a local resident who guided a few turkey shoots for Governor Perry between 1985 and 1990, said he holds Governor Perry ‘‘in the highest es- teem’’ but said this of the rock at the camp: ‘‘It kind of offended me, truthfully’’;
Whereas Haskell County Judge David Davis, sitting in his courtroom and looking at a window there, said the word was ‘‘like those are vertical blinds. It’s just what it was called. There was no significance other than a hunting deal’’ – in other words, the judge was morally vacuous;
Whereas the name of this particular parcel did not change for years and for many remained the same after it became associated with Rick Perry, first as a private citizen, then as a State official, and finally as Texas Governor;
Whereas some local residents still call it by the morally re- pugnant name ‘‘Niggerhead’’;
Whereas as recently as this summer, the slab-like rock – lying flat, portions of the name still faintly visible be- neath a coat of white paint – remained by the gated en- trance to the camp;
Whereas asked last week about the name, Governor Perry said the word on the rock is an offensive name that has no place in the modern world – implying that it may have been okay and had an appropriate place in that commu- nity when he was growing up;
Whereas Mae Lou Yeldell has lived in Haskell County, Texas, for 70 years and recalls the racism she faced in the 1950s and 1960s in West Texas, when being called an offensive name – like Whites greeting Blacks with ‘Morning nigger’’ – was ‘‘like a broken record’’;
Whereas Throckmorton County, where the hunting camp is located near Haskell County, was for years considered a virtual no-go zone for African-Americans because of old stories told by locals about the lynching of an African- American man there;
Whereas Haskell County began observing Martin Luther King Jr. Day just two years ago according to a county commissioner in Haskell County;
Whereas Governor Perry grew up in a segregated era whose history has defined and complicated the careers of many Southern politicians;
Whereas Governor Perry has spoken often about how his up- bringing in this sparsely populated farming community influenced his conservatism;
Whereas Governor Perry says he mentioned the offensive word on the rock to his parents shortly after they had signed a lease and he had visited the property, and they rather immediately painted over the word during the next July 4 holiday, but seven people interviewed by the Washington Post said they still saw the word on the rock at various points during the years that the Perry family was associated with the property through his father, partners, or his signature on a lease;
Whereas another local resident who visited the property with Governor Perry and the legislators he brought there to go hunting recalled seeing the rock with the name clearly visible;
Whereas how, when, or whether Governor Perry dealt with it when he was using the property isn’t clear and adds a dimension to the emerging biography of Governor Perry who quickly moved into the top tier of Republican presi- dential candidates when he entered the race in August; and
Whereas Herman Cain is the only Republican presidential candidate to criticize Governor Rick Perry for being ''in- sensitive'' when the word was not immediately condemned, but we would remind Herman Cain that the word is not only ''insensitive'', but is also ''offensive'': Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
(1) calls on Governor Rick Perry to apologize for not immediately doing away with the rock that contained the word ‘‘Niggerhead’’ at the entrance of a ranch he was leasing and on which he was taking friends, colleagues, and supporters to hunt;
(2) calls on Governor Rick Perry’s presidential rivals, who have not yet make strong statements of outrage over the rock that contained the word, to do so;
(3) calls upon Governor Rick Perry to condemn the use of this word as being totally offensive and inappropriate at anytime and anyplace in United States history; and
(4) calls upon Governor Rick Perry to list the names of all lawmakers, friends, and financial supporters he took with him on his hunting trips at ‘‘Niggerhead’’.
