DENVER, Colo. (KDVR) — Democratic lawmakers couldn’t believe their ears as they listened to Sen. Vicki Marble, R-Fort Collins, deliver a long soliloquy explaining that more blacks and Hispanics live in poverty, in part, because of fried chicken.
The comments came during a meeting of the Economic Opportunity Poverty Reduction Task Force Wednesday at the Capitol as lawmakers on the committee were presented with a number of statistics highlighting racial disparities in the poverty rate.
“When you look at life expectancy, there are problems in the black race: sickle-cell anemia is something that comes up, diabetes is something that’s prevalent in the genetic makeup and you just can’t help it,” Marble said. “Although I’ve got to say, I’ve never had better BBQ and better chicken and ate better in my life than when you go down south and you — I love it.
Marble went on to mention how Mexicans eat vegetables in Mexico but stop eating healthily when they immigrate to the United States.
Listen to audio of Marble’s remarks below, courtesy of The Denver Post.
“These things aren’t good for you,” she continued. “There’s so many attributing factors as to why these graphs look the way they do.”
According to Sen. Evie Hudak, D-Arvada, “there was an audible gasp in the room.”
Sparks flew from the comment. Check out how lawmakers responded, here on the website of our affiliate KDVR.
