By
Stoyan Zaimov
The Christian Association of
Nigerian-Americans (CANAN) and other groups have blasted Senator Ted Cruz
(R-Texas) for what they say was a highly-offensive joke he made about Nigerians
at an event in Houston on Monday.
Cruz, a vocal opponent of the
Affordable Care Act, was talking about the reported glitches with the launching
of the official website, and said:
"You may have noticed that all the
Nigerian email scammers have become a lot less active lately… They all have
been hired to run the Obamacare website."
The event, a Welcome Home gathering at
King Street Patriots, drew over 1,000 supporters who cheered Cruz on when he
promised to continue trying to take down Obamacare, according to the Houston Chronicle.
While the Republican Senator later
insisted that his remarks were only a joke, a number of politicians and
organizations have said that such comments should never have been made.
"The senator was making a joke
based on the official term of a commonly utilized type of scam. He meant no
offense," a spokesperson for Cruz has said, according to KTRK-TV.
CANAN insisted that regardless of
whether it was a joke or not, it is "appalling and reprehensible that the
good name and reputation of Nigerian-Americans is what the Senator can joke
with whimsically. This is completely unacceptable."
The group added that it does not wish
to start debates about the nature of international scammers, but pointed out
that the practice is not limited to any one country.
"There is only one decent option
open to Senator Cruz: an unconditional and full apology," the statement
continued.
"We want to assure our people,
that we are not taking this kind of unmitigated insults lying down anymore. We
are respectable, law abiding and outstanding members of the American
society."
Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) has also
criticized Cruz's comments, saying that other Republicans are likely to feel
that such remarks only do harm to their party's image.
"Jokes about Nigerian scammers,
you know, I wonder how much off the cuff that really was, and how calculated it
was to appeal to Sen. Cruz's base, many of whom believe that the president is
from Africa," Cartwright said on
Tuesday.
Pastor Felix Awotula of Redeemed
Christian Church of God agreed that such remarks can be very damaging.
"I'm not too sure of the motive
behind that. But anyway, the statement has been made, and it has a devastating
effect in the mind of Nigerians because we don't want to identify the country
with anything negative. I'm not saying all Nigerians are perfect," Awotula
said.
Source:
http://www.christianpost.com/
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