Media Alert
Reverend Jarrett Maupin issues statement following the scandalous and racist statements of Rep. David Stringer, calls for lawmaker to resign immediately or for House Leadership to remove him in next session for being “ethically bankrupt,” “a premeditated xenophobe,” and for practicing racism in violation of rules of conduct for state house members…
Statement Below:
“Earlier this year, I agreed to host a luncheon between Rep. Stringer and members of the Black community after he made a series of highly insensitive and ignorant remarks about people of color…
“The purpose of that meeting was two fold. First, was for Stringer to apologize and come face to face with the community he insulted. Second, was to give the community an opportunity to try and work proactively with Rep. Stringer on minority legislative priorities and to rehabilitate his views on race and the realities of racism…
“Many in the Black community are Christians and forgiveness is a foundational virtue of our faith. That said, we did as Jesus commands and as so many civil rights leaders before us attempted to do with bigots of their day – that is, to turn the other cheek…
“Rep. Stringer failed to operate in that spirit of forgiveness. Not only that, he recently made a new series of remarks that prove he is a committed racist. His words were a slap to the other cheek of the Black and civil rights community. He has squandered the rarest of opportunities – the ability to start over…
“Appropriately, incoming Speaker Bowers has immediately removed Rep. Stringer from his chairmanship over the House Committee on Sentencing and Recidivism Reform. Rep. Stringer has victimized our community again and he did so flippantly and with the kind of sick smug confidence that only a devout and unshakeable belief in racist ideologies can inspire. Pathetic…
“It is my hope that Mr. Stringer will resign immediately or that, when the new legislative session begins, House Leadership will exercise their power to remove a member for acts of moral turpitude and demonstrated ethical bankruptcy. Stringer’s demonstrated bigotry and racism is just as bad, if not worse, than the actions that have led to other members expulsions. Mr. Stringer is a premeditated xenophobe and his mental illness is not the burden of colored people to bear. Rep. Stringer does not belong politics or in the Arizona Legislature and neither do his poisonous and regressive values…
“The community remains hopeful that the important work of criminal justice reform will continue in the coming session and we look forward to working with Speaker Bowers and other lawmakers to move civil rights legislation forward in 2019. We will not allow Mr. Stringer and his repugnant and illegitimate agenda to stymie progress. Now, more than ever, civil rights legislation around voting, criminal justice, affordable housing, and economic development are needed in communities of color. It is my prayer that this incident becomes the teachable moment that lends renewed momentum to the cause of advancing public policy in these areas.”
– Rev. Jarrett Maupin