Illinois delegates downplay racial flap

Susie O. Ma, Special to the Rocky

Published August 25, 2008 at 5:08 p.m.

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The Illinois press buzzed with a story about state Senate President Emil Jones reportedly calling a Clinton delegate an “Uncle Tom,” but delegates say the story is being blown out of proportion. Jones claims that he used the term “doubting Thomas.” Both Jones and the delegate in question are black.

Tim Wright, a delegate and former co-chair of Clinton’s Illinois steering committee, said he didn’t believe Jones actually used the derogatory term and if he did, he was joking.

“Sensitivities are at a high level,” said Wright. “People are talking about it because of concerns about party image. We need to project unity, but that isn’t always uniformity.”

State representative and delegate Constance Howard said she is taking Jones’ word for it that he did not use the slur. “I would hope that we would not have any other distractions,” she said.

She said that it is time to move on, although she conceded that some Clinton supporters have not yet done that.

Some Illinois delegates were unaware of the flap.

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