Cliven Bundy racist?

To be honest I haven't given much thought to Mr. Cliven Bundy's story. He was at the center of a dispute with a federal government agency over lack of payment for grazing rights for his cattle. For those who generally distrust the federal government he galvanized them until I hear about this:

“I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro,” he said. Mr. Bundy recalled driving past a public-housing project in North Las Vegas, “and in front of that government house the door was usually open and the older people and the kids — and there is always at least a half a dozen people sitting on the porch — they didn’t have nothing to do. They didn’t have nothing for their kids to do. They didn’t have nothing for their young girls to do.

“And because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do?” he asked. “They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.”

OOOF!

Now, this man has become a racist and some Republican politicians, activists, and talking heads who supported him are starting to back off.

I can never say for sure what's in a man's heart. Perhaps the more he started talking to the press the more likely something like this would come out. Does he really believe this about Blacks? Is this what he truly believes? Could he have made his point without saying Blacks should just remain slaves?

I don't know but that's not to deligitimize some of the questions he brought up in the first place. Especially in light of his conflict with the federal government over grazing rights for his cattle. Besides while he was illegally allowing his cattle to graze over federal land without compensating them, I suppose it's right to fight against the government when they attempt to take away a man's livelihood - that is being a cattle rancher.

I only wish I knew what to say about this. Is Mr. Bundy just another extremist with unfortunate racial views?