Texas Senator Apologizes for Racist Comments Unearthed by Democracy Docket
Texas state Sen. Charles Perry (R) apologized on the Senate floor Tuesday, after Democracy Docket reported last week on racist remarks he made about immigrants at a 2022 legislative hearing.
“I was reminded last week of a hearing in 2021 [sic] in which things were said that were definitely insensitive and in looking back I regret saying them,” Perry said. “Forgetting the context, they shouldn’t have been said the way they were said. If I could pull those back I would.”
At the 2022 hearing — Perry’s statement that it was 2021 was incorrect — he suggested the way to deal with immigrants might be to “shoot, shovel and shut up.”
Perry became President Pro Tempore of the Texas Senate in June and chairs key Senate Committees.
In 2017, he authored the anti-immigrant Senate Bill 4 (SB 4) which mandates local law enforcement verify the immigration status of people they detain and cooperate with federal authorities.
Voting rights advocates said the remarks could strengthen legal challenges to the Texas GOP’s newly passed congressional gerrymander, by showing racial animus against Latino voters.
The apology comes after Perry blocked a Democratic filibuster of the GOP’s mid-decade congressional redistricting map, which dilutes the political power of Black and Latino communities.
The map is already the subject of federal lawsuits alleging it violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
While Perry acknowledged that his words “did hurt some folks” and said he was “sorry for that,” statements like Perry’s could be cited in court to demonstrate discriminatory intent behind the GOP’s redistricting effort.