Arizona GOP Rep. Eli Crane Calls Blacks ‘Colored People’ On House Floor, Sparking Outrage From Both Parties

Rep. Eli Crane (R-Arizona), referred to black Americans as “colored people” on the House floor on Thursday. This quickly brought about criticism from Democrats and a reprimand from the presiding officer and former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Crane, 43, was promoting a proposed change to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). He stated his amendment would stop “wokeness” in the Defense Department by preventing it from considering race, gender, political affiliation, religion or “any other ideological concepts” as the only premise for recruitment, education or promotion decisions.

The lawmaker explained, “My amendment has nothing to do with whether or not colored people or black people or anybody can serve. It has nothing to do with any of that stuff.”

Crane, a veteran, also stated, “The military was never intended to be, you know, inclusive. Its strength is not its diversity. Its strength is its standards.”

After Crane finished speaking, Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) said the phrase was “offensive and very inappropriate.”

The first-term representative requested his comment be changed to “people of color,” but Beatty asked that the phrase instead be taken off the record. The words were removed by a unanimous decision.

Regarding his wording, Crane said, “In a heated floor debate on my amendment that would prohibit discrimination on the color of one’s skin in the Armed Forces, I misspoke.”

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Beatty condemned Crane’s proposal, calling it an attempt to “undermine the freedoms for us to learn about one another, for us to hire one another, for us to understand our cultures.” But in a 214-210 vote on Thursday night, the House favored the amendment.

Earlier this week in the Senate, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) refused to call white nationalists racist, saying on CNN that they are people “that have a few, probably different beliefs.” These remarks were widely criticized by both parties, leading Tuberville to later take back his previous statement.