Republicans in the House of Representatives today blocked consideration of a resolution “calling on Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) to apologize for not immediately ‘doing away’ with a rock bearing the controversial name of his family’s West Texas hunting camp, ‘Niggerhead.’”
According to the Washington Post,
The [Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.)] resolution calls the name of the hunting camp “morally offensive” and cites businessman Herman Cain as “the only Republican presidential candidate to criticize Governor Rick Perry for being ‘insensitive’ when the word was not immediately condemned;” the text of the resolution also “remind(s) Herman Cain that the word is not only ‘insensitive,’ but is also ‘offensive.’”
The resolution also states that when asked about the name of the camp, 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 community when he was growing up.”
The measure then resolves that the House “calls on Governor Rick Perry to apologize for not immediately doing away with the rock,” to “condemn the use of this word as being totally offensive and inappropriate at anytime and anyplace in United States history” and to “list the names of all lawmakers, friends, and financial supporters he took with him on his hunting trips at ‘Niggerhead.’”
Neither Perry’s camp nor Perry’s Pet Rock responded immediately to the resolution.
Read more here.
UPDATE:
The Washington Post reports that Rick Perry has denied that the racial epithet “Niggerhead” was visible on a rock outside the hunting camp his family once leased.
“I think there were very much some strong inconsistencies and just misinformation in that story,” the Republican presidential candidate told Fox News. “I know for a fact that in 1984, that rock was painted over. It was painted over very soon, my family did that.
“I have no idea where or why people would say that they had seen that rock, because that’s just not the fact,” he added.
The Post adds:
In the Post report, seven people said that they had seen the name on the rock at points in the 1980s and 1990s; one recalled seeing it as recently as 2008. Some of the seven are Perry supporters.
Now, if Pet Rocks could just talk…
