A controversial remark made by an AM radio host during an interview with Rep. Jen Kiggans has sparked a broader debate about its origin and wider implications.
The controversy stems from an interview Kiggans did with AM radio station WRVA.
"If Hakeem Jeffries wants to be involved in Virginia politics, then I suggest he does what a bunch of New Yorkers are doing, leave New York, move down here to Virginia, run for office down here. You can represent us. If not, get your cotton-picking hands off of Virginia," host Rich Herrera said during the interview during the 7 a.m. hour of the show on Monday.
"That's right. Ditto. Yes. Yes to that," Kiggans said following the host's remarks.
Watch previous coverage: Rep. Kiggans faces criticism following Richmond radio interview
This comment and Kiggans' immediate response sparked backlash online.
In an interview with News 3 reporter Brendan Ponton on Monday evening, Kiggans said she was agreeing with the sentiment of the statement, but not the language. We also asked if she wished she had spoken up about the language at the time of the interview.
"Yes," she responded. "I would say that again that he should not have used that language."
The NAACP Virginia State Conference condemned Kiggans for her immediate response, saying the radio host's comment perpetuated a harmful stereotype.
“Words matter, and when elected officials use racially charged language, it undermines the very fabric of our communities.”, stated President Cozy Bailey, President NAACP Virginia State Conference. “Rep. Kiggans' agreement with such comments is deeply troubling. We must hold our leaders accountable and demand a standard of respect and dignity for all Virginians.”
In contrast, some commenters on News 3's social media post about this story claimed that the phrase is simply an old saying and not racially motivated.
"This is an old saying, nothing racial! Gee," one commenter wrote.
"I was told that by my parents growing up. My parents were from Maryland and Pennsylvania. There’s nothing racial about it," another commenter wrote.
Kiggans' potential opponent in the fall, former Democratic Congresswoman Elaine Luria called the statement a "dog whistle," which Merriam-Webster defines as a message that is suggestive to a specific audience without being directly offensive in an attempt to avoid negative reactions.
CBS6 in Albany, New York, spoke to Lacey Wilson, a program manager at the Underground Railroad Education Center, about the larger historical implications of this controversial phrase. Wilson said the expression traces back to the literal act of picking cotton by hand in the American South — labor performed largely by enslaved Black Americans and later by Black laborers through systems such as sharecropping and debt peonage.
“We know that a majority of the cotton picked in this country was by Black hands,” Wilson said, noting that the practice extended into the 20th century.
Over time, she said, the phrase detached from its literal meaning and became more common in popular culture. Wilson pointed to early cartoon usage as one reason some people may recall it without connecting it to its historical roots.
“I believe that there are people who say that who do not intend for it to be offensive,” she said. “However, I think the impact is perhaps far more important.”
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