Arizona Rep. Eli Crane has offered an explanation for inadvertently using the term “colored people” rather than “people of color” during a House floor debate last week.
“In a heated floor debate on my amendment that would prohibit discrimination on the color of one’s skin in the Armed Forces, I misspoke,” a statement released by the Congressman’s office read. “Every one of us is made in the image of God and created equal.”
Crane, a former Navy SEAL, made the remark during a debate on his proposed Protection of Ideological Freedom amendment to the Pentagon budget, which “prohibits DOD from considering race, gender, religion or political affiliations or any other ideological concepts as the sole basis for recruitment, training, education, promotion or retention decisions.”
Crane said his amendment has “nothing to do with whether colored people, or Black people, or anybody, can serve,” but was aimed at ensuring that “our military does not become a social experiment.”
Crane asked at the time if his comments could be amended to “people of color,” but Rep. Joyce Beatty argued against Crane, demanding that his “offensive and inappropriate language” be stricken from the record.
“I am still in utter shock and disbelief that a Republican uttered the words ‘colored people’ in reference to African American service members who sacrifice their lives for our freedom,” Beatty said in a tweet later.
Beatty immediately asked that Crane’s “offensive and inappropriate language” be stricken from the record.
Although his comment was shocking to many, what was more shocking to his constituents was that he was being accused of being a bigot.
Just last week, Crane went to bat for the Navajo Nation when he introduced the Energy Opportunities for All Act.
The Act would nullify the Biden admin’s overreaching actions that ban citizens from lawfully exercising the rights over their lands and resources.
In June, the Biden administration issued a Public Land Order banning approximately 336,404.42 acres of federal mineral estate surrounding the Chaco Canyon National Historical Park for 20 years. This effectively prevents all private landowners and Navajo allottees from mineral leasing land in this area.
According to Crane and economic experts, the ban will have significant negative economic impacts on both Navajo Nation and the American taxpayer, severely limiting tribal revenue, economic development, self-sufficiency, and American energy production.
Crane has argued that Chaco Canyon carries both cultural and historical significance for communities in the region. As a result, he argues that the “development of this land should be determined by those with lawful sovereignty – not out-of-touch Biden admin officials hellbent on imposing their radical agenda on tribal communities.”
Crane says that the Biden admin’s ban “makes it clear that the administration only cares about Tribal voices so long as they’re in line with the approved agenda.”