During a February 1 meeting arranged by the Shelbyville chapter of the NAACP, a Republican state representative in Kentucky made a controversial claim about her White father being a slave, sparking social media outrage.
According to The Daily Beast, Rep. Jennifer Decker, who is White, is introducing a state education bill that aims to prevent diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. If passed, the law would prohibit financing for diversity-related training and scholarships.
“HB 9 would ensure the postsecondary system in Kentucky is held accountable to dismantle the failed and misguided DEI bureaucracies that have made college more divided, more expensive, and less tolerant,” Decker initially claimed in a news release when the bill was introduced in January, as reported by Louisville Public Media.
At the NAACP event, Decker argued that DEI efforts are not necessary, citing her father’s success despite poverty and slavery. The 68-year-old Republican lawmaker’s father was born in the 1930s, about 70 years after slavery in America was ended.
“My father was a slave, just to a white man, and he was white,” Decker replied in response to a query about her family’s history with slavery. Decker claimed her father was born on a dirt farm and that her paternal grandmother’s father, a “prominent person,” allowed them to work as slaves after she was judged an illegitimate child, according to The Courier Journal.
According to the White lawmaker, her father may have been considered slaves because to his poverty and family’s work on a farm they did not own. “[My father] was a child, and all of his family worked there,” the 68-year-old alleged.
Decker agreed her statement about her father being a slave was “probably” over the top, as his purported situation was not comparable to what enslaved Black people experienced. She also stated that no one abducted her family.
The lawmaker was rebuked on X (formerly Twitter) over her comments. “A white slave in the mid-20th century? Talk about recreating history!” University of Louisville Pan-African Studies Professor Dr. Ricky L. Jones shared. “Maybe this makes sense in the alternate supremacist reality that is Kentucky, but nowhere else. Jennifer Decker and her Republican friends lie about and distort everything else, why not this?”
Kentucky education advocate Rob Mattheu also posted: “Too many of our Republican legislators like to say outrageous bigoted things for attention then refuse to own it when called on it. Jennifer Decker is a truly abhorrent and stupid person.”
“I’m embarrassed for her & KY. She is an elected official. She should feel embarrassed,” Hannah Drake, who is a poet and activist, posted. “During [Black History Month] she wants us to know her father was a slave. Help me somebody.”