After more than a dozen community groups called on her to apologize, an African-American state lawmaker issued a statement through her lawyer expressing regret for using racial slurs to describe her Asian primary election opponent in a state Senate race.
State Rep. Bettie Cook Scott allegedly referred to state Rep. Stephanie Chang as "ching-chang" and "the ching-chong" to voters outside polling precincts in Detroit during last Tuesday's election, the Detroit Metro Time reported.
The paper also said she called one of Chang's campaign volunteers an "immigrant" and declared "you don't belong here" and "I want you out of my country."
Chang won the Democratic primary for state Senate District 1 with 49 percent of the vote. Scott finished third with 11 percent.
In a statement issued Thursday, two days after the election, Cook said those "are
not the kinds of comments that should be made nor are they the kind of comments I would normally make."
"I humbly apologize to Rep. Chang and to her husband, Mr. (Sean) Gray, and to the broader Asian American community," she said.
Gray, who is black, said he heard Scott tell a voter at a polling site in Detroit "these immigrants from China are coming over and taking our community from us."
Scott, according to Gray, said it "disgusts" her "seeing black people holding signs for these Asians and not supporting their own people."
At East English Village Preparatory Academy in Detroit, Scott told another campaign's volunteer not to vote for the "ching-chang," apparently referring to Chang.
She was overheard telling multiple voters: "Vote for me. Don't vote for the ching-chong!"
She also told Chang's campaign staff that she called Chang's volunteers "ching-chongs," saying: "I called them ching-chongs. That's what they are!"
Gray told Metro Times that Scott called him a "fool" for marrying Chang.
"When you hear someone that's a minority and a woman using slurs against another minority that's a woman, it's just mind boggling," he said.
In her statement Thursday, Scott said: "We live in a time of increasing divisiveness. As a state representative, I should never do anything to contribute to an atmosphere of divisiveness and for that, I am terribly sorry. I look forward to meeting with Rep. Chang to express my apologies directly to her as soon as she's able to."