West Virginia GOP candidate Don Blankenship defended his use of a racial slur on Tuesday when he referred to the father-in-law of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as a "Chinaperson."
The Republican-hopeful for the U.S. senate received backlash for what many believed was racist. But he casually dismissed the criticism and defended his choice of words during a primary debate hosted by Fox News.
This idea that calling somebody a 'Chinaperson,' I mean, I'm an American person. I don't see this insinuation by the press that there's something racist about saying a 'Chinaperson.
@DonBlankenship Chinese person is not racist, chinaperson is!— ron firestone (@ron firestone)1525295106.0
@alweaver22 @Bencjacobs Hee hee, keep talking, Don. https://t.co/jrkJLu1pkX— Phyllis 🍸 (@Phyllis 🍸)1525217796.0
Blankenship targeted the father of McConnell's wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao – whose father, James Chao, was born in China but later moved to New York to start the Foremost Group shipping company in New York.
He expressed his concern with McConnell's father-in-law's "extensive" ties to China.
I have an issue when the father-in-law is a wealthy Chinaperson and there's a lot of connections to some of the brass, if you will, in China.
His West Virginia Senate campaign is one of the most overtly racist campaigns in decades. You might have to go all… https://t.co/88xtZXoH1T— Picassokat (@Picassokat)1525219094.0
@DonBlankenship your latest commercial blaming everyone but your slimy self for your imprisonment is sickening not… https://t.co/Z7I0eH3JGl— Laetitia (@Laetitia)1522951271.0
People didn't forget that Blankenship was a former CEO of a coal mining company and served time in prison for conspiring to violate federal mining safety standards which resulted in an explosion of Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine on April 5, 2010, killing 29 men.
immigrants based on their race. (Racial profiling/Racist.) 2) Don Blankenship, served one year in prison on a misd… https://t.co/N19J2lcFEE— Christina Robbins (@Christina Robbins)1515775240.0
@CNNPolitics Man killed 29 people. He is unfit for any elected office.— Debra Ann Janes (@Debra Ann Janes)1525269619.0
The outspoken supporter of Donald Trump also said he's read books on McConnell being "too soft on China," and believes the Senate Majority Leader's marriage to Elaine raises a potential "conflict of interest."
He contradicted himself when he demanded the full transparency of senators' business ties but later reportedly told the Times that nobody "should have to disclose private information."
@alweaver22 @Bencjacobs Lets assume he wasn't being racist on purpose... still left with this: Some people just ha… https://t.co/qPbZqxUAUd— WeAREtheStorm❄ (@WeAREtheStorm❄)1525217901.0
Twitter schooled Blankenship on racial etiquette and ignorance.
@DonBlankenship, you old, washed up, America-person. You don't get to tell #POC what is and isn't racist, racist.— 유광식 (@유광식)1525292147.0
To @DonBlankenship, who so ignorantly thought it was okay to call someone a "Chinaperson" on TV: You don't get to d… https://t.co/9GpnNwN8J9— Justin Chan (@Justin Chan)1525270910.0
I don't even want to touch on whether #DonBlankenship is a #racist, but he's clearly too #stupid to know the differ… https://t.co/B9rZcYXhQE— Phil Guie (@Phil Guie)1525300018.0
@marinafang @HuffPost What does that even mean? Does my being a Korean Person mean I just can’t wrap my head around… https://t.co/Bzdef2jVrU— 🦄🌸🐱 (@🦄🌸🐱)1525274837.0
@CNNPolitics China is a country. The people of China are Chinese. Many of whom work and live in the US. Some even c… https://t.co/CCgFNiqLIj— Ralph McKenzie Jr. (@Ralph McKenzie Jr.)1525265944.0
H/T - NYtimes, CNN, Twitter, HuffingtonPost