| On Tuesday, I wrote a diary that addressed the alleged use of a racist term by Atlantic County Sheriff and County Exec candidate Jim McGettigan. It sounded like a perfect catch of a man whose small-minded view of the world had finally caught up with him. Why would any politician use racial epithets in a constituent meeting in this day and age?
In fact, it sounded a bit too perfect. I asked at the time: "Anyone else smell a set-up?" As it turns out, that was exactly the right question to ask.
The Press of Atlantic City has reviewed a video of the incident and McGettigan's side of the story, as it turns out, was the correct one.
But, as I said, you cannot entrap someone unless they are willing to be entrapped. McGettigan did, actually, repeat the slur twice in his answer. It appears that he was trying to get away from it, but the more he struggled the more it tied his hands. See for yourself after the jump: |
Audience member: Sheriff, I have this statement for you: I bring my wife over to the motor vehicles, right, to get her license. They want a birth certificate, a marriage certificate, all this other kind of stuff. And these, uh, I don't want to say it, but my age is older, so we call them wetbacks. They come in here with no license, no insurance and I want to know, can you lock him up?
McGettigan: There are new guidelines for police agencies and sheriff's offices and state police when they're stopping vehicles who do something outside of the law...Now, the Attorney General's guidelines ask (officers) to tread lightly because you don't want to violate anyone's civil rights. Just because you are of (points to himself) Irish decent does not mean I just came over on the latest boat from Ireland and I'm now a potato smuggler. So, you have to be very, very careful in how you approach people, and here's the question: Are you here legally in the United States of America? Period. Now, how you answer that question is basically yes or no... So, (the officer's) judgment is going to be called into order here, whether you believe this person to be a naturalized citizen, a visiting citizen, here on a visa. But the question is: are you here legally. Now, you asked me can I arrest some quote, unquote wetback.
Audience member: Yeah.
McGettigan: Wetbacks, as far as we were concerned, meant somebody that was just new into the country. I don't know what the term means today.
There were calls from the crowd that "wetback" isn't "a slander". It is. Whether or not the crowd he was addressing was willing to examine their own bias and admit it or not, Sheriff McGettigan should have. McGettigan had the opportunity to say, "I don't appreciate the use of that term." He didn't. For that, he is guilty as charged. I believe he should apologize and get it behind him.
But this is not the same as Sonny McCullough telling a racist joke out of thin air. McGettigan is guilty of nothing more than not pointing out a constituent's bias - and perhaps of reinforcing it in some clumsy manner. McCullough, on the other hand, is guilty of bringing up the racist comments himself, then passing it off as "just a joke" and, to my knowledge, still minimizing and avoiding responsibilty for his actions. |
