A civil rights leader in Illinois is facing calls to resign after referring to migrants as “savages” during a Zoom meeting.
NAACP Illinois State Conference President Teresa Haley was recorded in a virtual meeting calling migrants “savages” and claiming they are “raping people” in a video that was released by former DuPage County NAACP President Patrick Watson on Tuesday.
Haley made the comments to argue that Black residents enduring homelessness are not given the same aid as migrants during a Oct. 26 Zoom meeting.
“Black people have been on the streets forever and ever,” Haley says. "And nobody cares, because they say that we’re drug addicts, we’ve got mental health issues.”
She continued: “But these immigrants who come over here, they’ve been raping people, they’ve been breaking into homes,” she continues. "They’re like savages as well! They don’t speak the language and they look at us like we’re crazy.”
I’m arguing that she can have flawed opinions and valid complaints. If she’d said something about white people I doubt anyone would bat an eye - criticism of that would be characterized as tone policing
There is room to dislike racist ideas while understanding and having compassion for the issues that are at the root of those ideas.