Bettie Cook Scott apologized on Thursday for an anti-Asian “ching-chong” slur the Michigan state representative hurled at her opponent in the Democratic Party primary election last week, Fox News reported.
Scott used the slur to reference the Asian heritage of state Rep. Stephanie Chang, who won their primary race for Michigan's 1st Senate District by nearly 50 percent of the vote.
Backlash ensued when Scott was overheard calling Chang “ching-chang” and “ching-chong” and passing various other racially offensive comments to voters outside polling precincts.
At one point, she reportedly told a voter that “these immigrants from China are coming over and taking our community from us” and that it disgusts her to see “black people holding signs for these Asians and not supporting their own people,” Chang's husband Sean Gray told Metro Times.
Shortly after making the remarks, various groups banded together to demand an apology from Scott, including the Michigan Democratic Party, which said it expected “better from anyone who wants to call themselves a Michigan Democrat,” and called for Scott to “apologize to the entire Asian American community.”
Scott heeded the demands by issuing an apology through her lawyer Bill Noakes on Thursday.
“Those are not the kinds of comments that should be made nor are they the kind of comments I would normally make,” she said, according to The Detroit News. “I humbly apologize to Rep. Chang and to her husband, Mr. Gray, and to the broader Asian American community.”
Scott added that she should not have made remarks that would contribute towards “an atmosphere of divisiveness” and said she was looking forward to meeting with Chang to apologize in person.
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