[Content Note: White supremacy; reproductive coercion; misogyny.]
...And men of color. And immigrants.
Republican State House Speaker Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who is the current Republican nominee for US Senate running against Democratic incumbent Senator Kay Hagan, said in a 2012 interview that "the 'traditional' voting bloc of his home state wasn't growing like as minority populations."
[Tillis] was asked what he thought of Hispanics not supporting Republicans.Talking Points Memo asked Tillis' campaign Communications Director Daniel Keylin for comment, and Keylin spun into action: "'Traditional' North Carolinians refers to North Carolinians who have been here for a few generations. A lot of the state's recent population growth is from people who move from other states to live, work, and settle down in North Carolina. Thom Tillis for example."
"When you see all of these things that have transpired, what do you think about?" Carolina Business Review host Chris William asked Tillis.
In response, Tillis said that the answer had more to do with "demographics of the country."
"If you take a look, you mentioned the Hispanic population — the African American population, there's a number of things that our party stands for that they embrace," Tillis said. He went on to say that Republican need to do a better job reaching out to minority voters. Tillis then said that unlike the Hispanic or black populations, which have been growing, the "traditional population of North Carolina and the United States is more or less stable."
Which is a pretty solid bullshit effort, but it's readily apparent from the transcript that's not what Tillis meant at all (emphasis mine):
The traditional population of North Carolina and the United States is more or less stable. It's not growing. The African American population is roughly growing but the Hispanic population and the other immigrant populations are growing in significant numbers. We've got to resonate with those future voters.Whooooooops.
Anyone who has been paying attention knows that the "white minority" alarmism is a thing among conservatives. There are a significant number of conservatives who are fearful about more brown babies being born than white babies, and who haven't the slightest compunction about publicly discussing that fear.
Tillis was talking about birth rates and brown immigrants, and we all know it.
And embedded, always, in that sort of rhetoric is the reproductive policing of white women, and women of color, for different reasons. White women aren't having enough babies. Women of color are having too many babies.
White women need to have more babies and raise them up to vote for Republicans.
Yeah. It's a real mystery how Republicans aren't winning the female vote.
Work dem spoons!
