# Is Jeff Sessions a racist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 5, 2016, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948 "2016-12-05T17:58:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/41 "2016-12-06T00:29:45Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > I can well believe that Sessions was careful to disclaim the “disgrace to his race” comment by attributing it to unspecified other persons. And he may be telling the truth about that. > > But given the number of people who testified that they had heard Sessions himself say racist things, I don’t find Sessions’ own disclaimer sufficient evidence to prove that his version is true. What number was that? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/42 "2016-12-06T00:38:26Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > He [opposes **legal** immigration](http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/05/16/sen-jeff-sessions-warns-permanent-expansion-low-skilled-guest-worker-program/). Your cite does not support that claim. Opposing an increase in immigration is not an opposition to all immigration. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/43 "2016-12-06T00:44:06Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > … given the number of people who testified that they had heard Sessions himself say racist things … What was “the number of people”? Wikipedia says: > [@](#): > > … four Department of Justice lawyers who had worked with Sessions testified that he made racially offensive remarks. Was it really just four people, or am I missing something? Has he said anything that you consider racist in the last 25 years? Arlen Specter, one of the (then) Republican Senators who voted against his judicial nomination, later said he had come to know Senator Sessions and that his vote had been a ‘mistake’. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/44 "2016-12-06T04:10:17Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Was it really just four people, or am I missing something? Four people who officially testified at a Senate confirmation hearing? I’m not sure how you’re apparently arriving at the conclusion that that’s a negligible or insignificant number. One of those people has [described the circumstances of his Senate hearing testimony on Sessions](https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/11/22/my-testimony-about-jeff-sessionss-racist-remarks-kept-him-from-becoming-a-judge/?utm_term=.ed4d0b70676c): > [@](#): > > I met [Sessions] while I was handling a major voting rights case in Mobile, and I relayed a rumor I’d heard: A federal judge there had allegedly referred to a civil rights lawyer as “a traitor to his race” for taking on black clients. Sessions responded, “Well, maybe he is.” […] > > The American Bar Association contacted me and my supervisor to ask for background on Sessions, as was standard in those days for judicial confirmations. I told the ABA about conversations I’d had with the U.S. attorney in which he referred to the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union as “un-American.” As he saw it, by fighting for racial equality, these groups were “trying to force civil rights down the throats of people who were trying to put problems behind them.” […] > > Sessions rebutted some of the testimony against him (including that he had called an African American prosecutor who worked for him “boy” and told him to “be careful what you say to white folks”), but he didn’t deny what I said about him. He never apologized for those comments, either, saying only that “I am loose with my tongue on occasion.” [QUOTE=HurricaneDitka] Has he said anything that you consider racist in the last 25 years? [/quote] I don’t know. Once again, you appear to be having some typically Trumpublican difficulty in grasping a concept of racism that isn’t a simple binary distinction between “Person X is racist” and “Person X is not racist”. I’ve already explained to you, several times, that I’m not propounding or endorsing the claim “Jeff Sessions is racist”, since AFAICT there isn’t evidence to support such a sweeping claim. What I think there **is** strong evidence for is the claim that Sessions’ past record includes engaging in some racist behavior and supporting some racist positions (in addition to some positions that are bigoted, ignorant, and/or discriminatory on grounds other than race). As your previously cited [Wikipedia article notes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Sessions#Failed_nomination_to_the_district_court), > [@](#): > > In 1985, Sessions prosecuted three African American community organizers in the Black belt of Alabama, including Martin Luther King Jr’s former aide Albert Turner, for voter fraud. The prosecution stirred charges of selective prosecution of Black voter registration and was based on no more than 14 tampered ballots. […] > > At Sessions’ confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, four Department of Justice lawyers who had worked with Sessions testified that he made racially offensive remarks. […] > > As [Alabama] Attorney-General, Sessions led the state’s defense of a schools funding model ultimately found unconstitutional because of disparities between rich, mostly white, and poor, mostly black, schools. […] > > He also criticized the foundation for distributing books related to Islam to hundreds of U.S. libraries […] > > As Attorney General of Alabama, Sessions worked to prohibit the recognition and funding of student Gay-Straight Alliances at The University of Alabama, Auburn University and The University of South Alabama […] > > Sessions has been an opponent of same-sex marriage and has earned a zero rating from the Human Rights Campaign, the United States’ largest LGBTQ advocacy group […] Sessions voted in favor of advancing the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2004 and 2006, a U.S. constitutional amendment which would have permanently restricted federal recognition of marriages to those between a man and a woman. Sessions voted against the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010. […] > > Sessions is skeptical of the scientific consensus on climate change. […] > > Following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016, Sessions refused to consider any nominee for the position. Sessions maintained his opposition after President Obama nominated D.C. Circuit judge Merrick Garland, joining other Republican Senators in delaying a Supreme Court hearing until the inauguration of a new president. And some more of the above-cited remarks by J. Herbert specifically relating to Sessions’ record on race issues: > [@](#): > > He falsely charged three African American civil rights activists in Alabama, including a longtime adviser to Martin Luther King Jr., with 29 counts of mail fraud, altering absentee ballots and attempting to vote multiple times. The evidence showed that these activists were simply helping elderly African American voters complete mail-in ballots. All were acquitted of every charge. > > In the decades since, Sessions has promoted the myth of voter-impersonation fraud, despite overwhelming evidence that it is exceedingly rare. At the same time, he has ignored the racial impact of voting restrictions, which have a well-documented negative effect on minority communities, the impoverished and the elderly. He has disagreed that people are sometimes denied the right to vote […] willfully discounting the Alabama county’s recent history of discriminatory voting changes. I repeat: I’m not claiming that all this adds up to proof of a simple black-and-white (ha) assertion that “Sessions is a racist”. I do think that it constitutes strong evidence that Sessions at 69 is an elderly white Southern conservative mossback who has advocated some racist and otherwise discriminatory positions, and never felt the need to repudiate them, although over the years he may have developed enough PR smarts to deny them. Consequently, I don’t think Sessions was a good choice for a District Court back in 1986 and I don’t think he’s a good choice for AGUS now, although I don’t expect the Trump administration to be able to choose anyone better. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/45 "2016-12-06T11:32:18Z")
I was interested to see what evidence might be introduced for the claim that Sessions is a racist. What I have seen is much more along the lines of **Kimstu** ’s observations: Sessions has advocated for policies which Democrats oppose and usually characterize as racist or bigoted, such as ignoring “the racial impact of voting restrictions,” and as state attorney general defended a state law that was found unconstitutional on disparate impact grounds. My sense is that if I were nominated for the federal bench (and Mr. President-Elect, if you’re listening, I am available, and that particular nomination would certainly be a plus for your administration, just saying…) and if at my confirmation hearings the SDMB community were consulted, I have no doubt whatsoever that charges of racism would be leveled against me. Which, frankly, tells me what I need to know here. It’s possible Sessions is a racist, of course. But the reflexive charges of racism and bigotry leveled against all who opposed key Democratic positions has robbed them of their vigor, for me. At one time hearing someone called a racist was a serious accusation; in today’s political discourse it usually means a person that’s opposed to Voter ID, affirmative action, or has criticized President Obama. Cry wolf often enough and this is what happens. (Note as to the absurdity that abounds: I first typed “Cry wolf often enough, boy, and this is what happens.” I did so because the fable is well known as: _The Boy Who Cried Wolf_. But then I decided that closing this comment with ‘boy’ might be seized upon by opponents as a racist comment, so I deleted it. . . . and then I penned this footnote to illustrate the absurd contortions this kind of thinking produces.) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/46 "2016-12-06T11:50:19Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I was interested to see what evidence might be introduced for the claim that Sessions is a racist. > > What I have seen is much more along the lines of **Kimstu** ’s observations: Sessions has advocated for policies which Democrats oppose and usually characterize as racist or bigoted, such as ignoring “the racial impact of voting restrictions,” and as state attorney general defended a state law that was found unconstitutional on disparate impact grounds. > > My sense is that if I were nominated for the federal bench (and Mr. President-Elect, if you’re listening, I am available, and that particular nomination would certainly be a plus for your administration, just saying…) and if at my confirmation hearings the SDMB community were consulted, I have no doubt whatsoever that charges of racism would be leveled against me. Which, frankly, tells me what I need to know here. > > It’s possible Sessions is a racist, of course. But the reflexive charges of racism and bigotry leveled against all who opposed key Democratic positions has robbed them of their vigor, for me. At one time hearing someone called a racist was a serious accusation; in today’s political discourse it usually means a person that’s opposed to Voter ID, affirmative action, or has criticized President Obama. > > Cry wolf often enough and this is what happens. > > (Note as to the absurdity that abounds: I first typed “Cry wolf often enough, boy, and this is what happens.” I did so because the fable is well known as: _The Boy Who Cried Wolf_. But then I decided that closing this comment with ‘boy’ might be seized upon by opponents as a racist comment, so I deleted it. . . . and then I penned this footnote to illustrate the absurd contortions this kind of thinking produces.) I defer to your expertise in the matter of absurd contortions and applaud your efforts to employ them to reach “in today’s political discourse it usually means a person that’s opposed to Voter ID, affirmative action, or has criticized President Obama”. Funny you should mention “boy”, though, since Sessions’ alleged use of the word is absent from your analysis. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/47 "2016-12-06T12:43:23Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I was interested to see what evidence might be introduced for the claim that Sessions is a racist. > > What I have seen is much more along the lines of **Kimstu** ’s observations: Sessions has advocated for policies which Democrats oppose and usually characterize as racist or bigoted, such as ignoring “the racial impact of voting restrictions,” and as state attorney general defended a state law that was found unconstitutional on disparate impact grounds. > > My sense is that if I were nominated for the federal bench (and Mr. President-Elect, if you’re listening, I am available, and that particular nomination would certainly be a plus for your administration, just saying…) and if at my confirmation hearings the SDMB community were consulted, I have no doubt whatsoever that charges of racism would be leveled against me. Which, frankly, tells me what I need to know here. > > It’s possible Sessions is a racist, of course. But the reflexive charges of racism and bigotry leveled against all who opposed key Democratic positions has robbed them of their vigor, for me. At one time hearing someone called a racist was a serious accusation; in today’s political discourse it usually means a person that’s opposed to Voter ID, affirmative action, or has criticized President Obama. > > Cry wolf often enough and this is what happens. > > (Note as to the absurdity that abounds: I first typed “Cry wolf often enough, boy, and this is what happens.” I did so because the fable is well known as: _The Boy Who Cried Wolf_. But then I decided that closing this comment with ‘boy’ might be seized upon by opponents as a racist comment, so I deleted it. . . . and then I penned this footnote to illustrate the absurd contortions this kind of thinking produces.) I think this is too far back the other way. Calling black people “boy”, calling people “traitors to their race”, telling a black attorney he should be careful talking to a white woman secretary (reasonably interpreted as an implied threat, considering the history of such warnings in the South), weird praise of the KKK, and the like, are reasonably characterized as racist statements, IMO, and those were what killed his '86 nomination, and I think constitute the bulk of the criticism against him now with regards to accusations of racism. That’s not just opposing Democratic policies and Obama. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/48 "2016-12-06T13:50:31Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I defer to your expertise in the matter of absurd contortions and applaud your efforts to employ them to reach “in today’s political discourse it usually means a person that’s opposed to Voter ID, affirmative action, or has criticized President Obama”. > > Funny you should mention “boy”, though, since Sessions’ alleged use of the word is absent from your analysis. That was my analysis. In other words, and I apologize for the subtlety that escaped you, I was going to call my interlocutor ‘boy,’ for entirely non-racial reasons. I edited myself at first, but then chose to highlight the thought process in order to demonstrate the absurdities of being beholden to these PC shackles. I imagine [David Howard](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/williams/williams020499.htm) might offer a similar wry commentary on the problems of using a non-racial word in an atmosphere overly disposed to hear racial insult. Do you understand now that “boy,” was not in fact missing from my analysis? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/49 "2016-12-06T13:54:19Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I think this is too far back the other way. Calling black people “boy”, calling people “traitors to their race”, telling a black attorney he should be careful talking to a white woman secretary (reasonably interpreted as an implied threat, considering the history of such warnings in the South), weird praise of the KKK, and the like, are reasonably characterized as racist statements, IMO, and those were what killed his '86 nomination, and I think constitute the bulk of the criticism against him now with regards to accusations of racism. > > That’s not just opposing Democratic policies and Obama. Yeah, the problem here is “…considering the history of such warnings in the South.” Out of curiosity, did you believe that David Howard was racist, given the history of near-homonym racial imprecations? Or did you understand that this was a crappy argument? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/50 "2016-12-06T14:03:29Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Yeah, the problem here is “…considering the history of such warnings in the South.” > > Out of curiosity, did you believe that David Howard was racist, given the history of near-homonym racial imprecations? > > Or did you understand that this was a crappy argument? I don’t see how these are remotely similar. Howard didn’t call a black man “boy”; he didn’t warn a black man not to talk to a white woman; he didn’t weirdly praise the KKK; he didn’t advocate for the state government to fly the confederate flag; and more. ---
**Author:** ![theR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@theR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theR)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/51 "2016-12-06T14:05:45Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > That was my analysis. > > In other words, and I apologize for the subtlety that escaped you, I was going to call my interlocutor ‘boy,’ for entirely non-racial reasons. > > I edited myself at first, but then chose to highlight the thought process in order to demonstrate the absurdities of being beholden to these PC shackles. I imagine [David Howard](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/williams/williams020499.htm) might offer a similar wry commentary on the problems of using a non-racial word in an atmosphere overly disposed to hear racial insult. > > Do you understand now that “boy,” was not in fact missing from my analysis? Nope, don’t understand at all since a grown white man calling a grown black man “boy” is plainly racist, particularly for someone of Sessions’ background and age who has literally no argument that he doesn’t understand the historical context behind calling black men “boy.” ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/52 "2016-12-06T14:12:14Z")
On accusation about using a similar sounding (but unrelated) word to a racial slur is entirely different than multiple accusations, including the racial slur “boy”, warnings about talking to white women, in addition to public stances like advocating for the confederate flag. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/53 "2016-12-06T15:08:48Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > he didn’t weirdly praise the KKK Most of the people who have examined the details of that particular bit of #FakeNews have concluded that it was a joke. YMMV, but I wonder if you’ve actually collected the details and analyzed them yourself or if you’re just passing on what you read from your liberal thought leaders. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/54 "2016-12-06T15:10:01Z")
BTW, does anyone still hold to the belief that Jeff Sessions used the “n-word”? Or can we consider that particular piece of ignorance debunked? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/55 "2016-12-06T15:12:37Z")
> [@theR](#): > > Nope, don’t understand at all since a grown white man calling a grown black man “boy” is plainly racist, particularly for someone of Sessions’ background and age who has literally no argument that he doesn’t understand the historical context behind calling black men “boy.” Here’s my problem: I see a huge difference between, “Boy, I’m tired after a week like this,” and “Now, boy, don’t let me hear you talking back now, y’hear?” But I believe that ultra-sensitive, Marshall Brown-type ears, alert for the slightest hint of racial animus, might well report the first type of use as “Calling me boy.” My commentary about the use of “boy” as referring to “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” was intended to highlight a perfectly egalitarian use of “boy.” But what if my interlocutor had been an African-American man and I posted the comment in reply to him? The horror! But you know something? I’m done. The question is answered to my satisfaction, and I think liberals are just going to have to accept Jeff Sessions as Attorney General. Deal with it. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/56 "2016-12-06T15:15:22Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > BTW, does anyone still hold to the belief that Jeff Sessions used the “n-word”? Or can we consider that particular piece of ignorance debunked? Interestingly, no one has offered any insight into what weird motive might have led the Post reporter to make that claim. Wonder what it might have been. Maybe he was serving a higher truth, since Sessions is racist anyway. Think that was it? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/57 "2016-12-06T15:20:52Z")
I am not taking a position on whether Sessions is a racist. If he is, he seems to at least keep it under his hat for the most part, which is about all I can expect from a Republican GOP official in the South. > [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Salon ran a perhaps-surprising contrary [view](http://www.salon.com/2016/12/01/calling-jeff-sessions-racist-conveniently-ignores-the-work-hes-done-for-alabamas-black-community/) of Sessions recently. I don’t think it’s surprising. Carrie Sheffield is a non-strident but clearly right-leaning commentator whose other works include [telling the cast of Hamilton to shut up](http://www.salon.com/2016/11/22/mike-pence-wanted-to-go-to-see-hamilton-not-a-morality-play-on-the-importance-of-minorities-and-the-lgbt-communities-in-the-united-states/) and contributions to a rather-poorly-disguised GOP mouthpiece called Opportunity Lives. I suppose it would be surprising if you didn’t know that _Salon_ regularly ran anti-liberal articles. That is not to say that helping to get septic tanks installed in a poor majority-black county is not a good thing, but that was also pretty much his job. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/58 "2016-12-06T15:31:58Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Most of the people who have examined the details of that particular bit of #FakeNews have concluded that it was a joke. YMMV, but I wonder if you’ve actually collected the details and analyzed them yourself or if you’re just passing on what you read from your liberal thought leaders. Whether it was a joke or not doesn’t change that he said it. I think such a joke might be revealing about how he comports himself. If it was only this, and nothing else, then I’d be less likely to be concerned by it. When I add in the support for the confederate flag, calling black men “boy”, warning a black man not to talk to a white woman, etc., then I start to consider that this person might routinely say/do/advocate for racist things, which I think is worth challenging and criticizing strongly. It’s not the end of the world to do and say such things, and it’s not the end of the world to call them out and criticize them. I’m not saying Sessions is a monster – I’m saying there’s reason to suspect he’s a person who routinely says, does, and advocates for racist things, in addition to perhaps being unconcerned by some level of racist policies and practices, and all this can and should be criticized. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/59 "2016-12-06T15:49:03Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > … then I start to consider that this person might routinely say/do/advocate for racist things, which I think is worth challenging and criticizing strongly. > > … there’s reason to suspect he’s a person who routinely says, does, and advocates for racist things, in addition to perhaps being unconcerned by some level of racist policies and practices, and all this can and should be criticized. [added ellipses and snipped post] There appears to be no evidence at all that he’s said anything racist in the last 25 years. Why are you abusing the word “routinely” like that? ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/60 "2016-12-06T15:58:57Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > BTW, does anyone still hold to the belief that Jeff Sessions used the “n-word”? Or can we consider that particular piece of ignorance debunked? I don’t know whether he did or didn’t, but the allegation that he did so was not just invented by a Post reporter, and I sure don’t regard it as utterly debunked. Biden and Sessions discussed it during his 1986 nomination hearing, Sessions denied it, but he did so with a piece of [historical revisionism](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/21/jeff-sessions-trump-attorney-general-racial-slur). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948.md?page=4)