Dartez sparks outrage over 'Buckwheat' remark

Yeah, it's in the US, where else?

quote:HOUMA, La. (AP) — A state representative in a runoff election infuriated civil rights leaders after she ended a conversation with the mother of the NAACP's local president by saying, "Talk to you later, Buckwheat."

State Rep. Carla Blanchard Dartez, D-Morgan City, acknowledged she made the remark during a Thursday night telephone conversation with Hazel Boykin to thank her for driving voters to the polls.

Buckwheat, a black child character in the "Little Rascals" comedies of the 1930s and '40s, is viewed as a racial stereotype demeaning to black people.

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"I've never had no one talk to me that way and I considered it a racial slur," said Hazel Boykin. "I know the meaning of it, it's just like the N word."

The 75-year-old retiree said even when she was active in the civil rights movement in the racially charged atmosphere of the 1960s "I never got that kind of response."

(snip)

(Dartez's) remark is the latest bit of trouble for her and her husband, Lenny Dartez, who is a member of the Democratic Party's State Central Committee.

Before qualifying in September, Carla Dartez was given a summons for improper lane usage after hitting a pedestrian with her vehicle. She failed a field sobriety test but passed a later Breathalyzer test.

Earlier this month, Lenny Dartez was indicted for allegedly harboring illegal aliens through his construction business.

Full story here at nola.com