Color of Skin Comment 'Clunky Choice of Words': Lawmaker

TROY, MI - A Republican lawmaker from Troy apologized Monday for a “clunky choice of words” after he said in a Senate Education hearing on improving failing public schools predominantly serving low-income African-American children that policymakers “can’t make an African-Americans white.”

“We can’t fix that ...” Sen. Marty Knollenberg said during the televised committee hearing. “It’s what it is, so we can’t fix that.”

Knollenberg’s remarks came Friday during testimony from Gov. Rick Snyder’s education adviser, Karen McPhee, and Natasha Baker, the state’s school reform officer. Baker, who is African-American, said the race of children in failing districts is not the driving factor behind their low academic performance.

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“We didn’t get here because of one thing,” Baker said. “We didn’t get here because someone’s poor. We didn’t get here because someone’s black, or Hispanic or white. That’s not why we’re here.”

A firestorm of criticism quickly erupted as Democrats and others denounced Knollenberg’s remarks as racially charged.

On Twitter, House Minority Leader Tim Greimel, D-Auburn Hills, said Knollenberg’s comments were “racially insensitive.”

Demanding an apology, Rep. Brian Banks, D-Detroit, said he was “disgusted” by the remarks by an elected official charged with making policy. He told WXYZ-TV that it’s clear Knollenbeg has “some built in-racism” and is “out of touch with reality.”

Dave Hecker, president of the American Federation of Teachers – Michigan, called the comment “racist,” the Detroit Free press reports.

“What Sen. Knollenberg said about kids in struggling schools is racist, and is a major step backwards in improving education for our children,” Hecker said in a statement. “If a child is struggling academically, it is not because of a problem inherent to their race or ethnicity.”

And Progress Michigan executive director Lonnie Scott called Kollenberg’s comments “blatant racism.”

The beleaguered senator told WXYZ that if his critics knew him, “they would know that I am not racist at all.”

He said his words were taken out of context, but said statistics bear out that most children in struggling districts are minorities, and that’s what prompted his words.

He went farther during a radio interview on Michigan’s Big Show Monday, saying:

“Certainly a clunky choice of words, unfortunately, that I had made, and I apologize for making those choice of words. Certainly given the context that we were talking about the issue in committee, if people had actually sat in that committee or at least reviewed the tape from start to finish, I think it would have been clear. But at the same time, I certainly could have articulated it better, and I apologize for that.”