Kentucky Republican state Rep. Jennifer Decker told a local NAACP chapter on the first day of Black History Month that her white father was a "slave"—before later admitting she "probably overstated," according to a local report.Jon Cherry/Getty
A Kentucky Republican politician made an audacious claim on the first day of Black History Month, according to a local report: her white father, she said, was a slave.
State Rep. Jennifer Decker made the comments, first reported by the Louisville Courier Journal, while speaking to a local chapter of the NAACP on Feb. 1 about why she’d introduced a bill seeking to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at public colleges and universities, which she has said make schools “more divided, more expensive, and less tolerant.” According to an audio recording of the meeting obtained by the Courier Journal, during the Q&A portion of the event, an audience member asked Decker if her family played any role in the slave trade.
Per the Courier Journal, Decker replied: “My father was born on a dirt farm in Lincoln County. His mother was the illegitimate daughter of a very prominent person who then was kind enough to allow them to work for him as slaves. So, if you’re asking,........