FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Timothy K. Rusch, tim@fitzgibbonmedia.com

New York, NY – Yesterday, news broke that Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) told a suburban Chicago audience that “[The Democratic party] want the Hispanic vote, they want Hispanics to be dependent on government, just like they got African Americans dependent on government. That’s their game.” Walsh, a Tea Party-backed candidate who came to office in 2010, went on to say that Jesse Jackson “would be out of work if [African Americans] weren’t dependent on government.”

Walsh has a history of making racially inflammatory comments and encouraging fringe beliefs among his supporters. He’s said that President Obama was elected because he is Black, and Walsh allowed a supporter to describe Obama as an adherent of “socialism, communism and Nazism” without challenging the premise of her comments.

The following is a statement from ColorOfChange Executive Director Rashad Robinson:

“The people of Illinois deserve better representation than what Rep. Walsh has to offer. His latest comments are a slap in the face to all Americans, especially the African-American and Latino voters he went out of his way to offend last week. If his previous racially divisive and deeply ignorant comments left any room for doubt, now we know for sure that Walsh is unfit to lead.

“In the six months leading up to the election, the ColorOfChange community will remain vigilant and vocal as candidates such as Walsh race-bait and stoke race-based fears. We will continue to call out their efforts to divide America, and we will hold them accountable.”

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With more than 800,000 members, ColorOfChange.org is the nation’s largest Black online civil rights organization