Texas Republican and U.S. Senate hopeful Chris Mapp is staunchly anti-immigration and apparently sees no problem with using racism and murder against undocumented immigrants. He believes that ranchers should be allowed to shoot “wetbacks,” a racist term used to refer to hispanics, on sight.
Mapp told the Dallas Morning News editorial board that ranchers should be allowed to shoot any “wetbacks” that step onto their land while crossing the border. In another testament to his over-the-top and inflammatory ignorance, during the interview he also called President Obama a “socialist son of a bitch.” The Dallas Morning News offered their endorsement of Mapp’s opponent, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in that same article.
But rather than redact his statement and apologize for it, he doubled down and defended his statement and position in the San Antonio Express-News.
Mapp said that use of the word “wetback” was as “normal as breathing air in South Texas.” He continued in saying that “We can’t have illegal immigrants, drug cartels, human traffickers or terrorists coming across our border. Our borders can either be sealed by choice or force, and so far choice hasn’t worked.”
Mapp has now brought the fight to his campaign’s Facebook page, and has been met with a wave of criticism to which he and those on his behalf meet with more name calling. Crystal Mapp (relation undetermined) called a voter a “sad, bitter, jealous man” and then said to “excuse yourself from a place you do not belong.”
Mapp will not make it in politics, and rightfully so. The hispanic vote is key in the nation and especially in Texas, where the hispanic population accounts for 30 percent of eligible voters. Mapp’s remarks transcended party lines and struck directly to an entire constituency. Even Republican hispanic voters who surely could have gotten offended by the statement no longer see Mapp as a conservative, but a racist. But that’s one less Republican racist that’s out of the fray.
Josh is a writer and researcher with Ring of Fire. Follow him on Twitter @dnJdeli.
