Sparring between the two over racial sensitivities escalated Thursday night during a debate on Vermont PBS.
Last month, Brock accused Zuckerman of politicizing the race issue. At Thursday’s debate, Brock pressed the issue further and Zuckerman lashed back.
Brock accused Zuckerman of making a series of “derogatory” and “offensive” racial comments. In particular, he pointed to a comment made earlier in the campaign in which the ponytailed Zuckerman mentioned that stereotypes over a person’s race or hair length are worrisome.
“When Sen. Zuckerman refers to an equivalent of making judgments about people’s race compared to making judgments about their long hair — that’s offensive,” Brock said.
Brock also took issue with a comment Zuckerman made at a forum last week when advocating for the legalization of marijuana. “Sen. Zuckerman said, ‘I want to talk about the underground marijuana market. I can’t call it the black market for obvious reasons,’” Brock said. “What could something like that mean other than a racial innuendo?”
Brock zeroed in on another comment Zuckerman made at a debate in Tunbridge. “He makes a joke in reference to his financial acumen being based on having a Jewish father,” Brock said. “A person can misspeak once, but when you have a pattern of that is indicative of a problem.”
Zuckerman countered, accusing Brock of working from a right-wing playbook. “I have not made racial charges or attacks on anyone,” he said.
“When I talked about stereotyping people, I said we all have to look at our internal biases,” Zuckerman said. “I never compared the ramifications of somebody judging someone for long hair with the way that our law enforcement judges African Americans and people of brown skin.”
Zuckerman said he’s long talked about ending the use of the term “black market” because it perpetuates a negative stereotype.
Later in the 90-minute debate, when a Johnson State College student asked the candidates how they would make college more affordable, Zuckerman said part of the solution is to spend less money on incarcerating people and more on higher education.
“In Vermont … we have rates that are 6.9 percent above the national average in proportion of African Americans in prison versus white folks in prison, often due to unjust racial prejudice and profiling,” Zuckerman said.
Brock dismissed Zuckerman’s numbers — and his point. “When you look at statistics quoted by politicians, you should always remember that 87.5 percent of those statistics were made up on the spot,” he quipped.
Brock questioned whether anyone’s looked at why more blacks are in prison, asking if there is “a difference between the incarceration rates between people of color who are born and grew up in Vermont as opposed to people who come here from areas that have high crime historically.”
The statement was surprising given that Brock moved to Vermont from Philadelphia to attend Middlebury College in the 1970s.
Zuckerman suggested that Brock was treading on thin ice. “I think we need to be very careful about comments like what my opponent just made,” Zuckerman said. “To say that somehow folks of color that might be coming into the community may be of higher risk than those that are born here is exactly the kind of language that is going to reduce the interest of people coming to Vermont.”
Brock didn’t let up. “To rush to a conclusion that there’s major discrimination going on without probing the reasons why … gives you a very superficial view and you wind up solving the wrong problem, and that’s my concern.”
Editor’s note: Terri Hallenbeck was co-moderator of the Vermont PBS debate.
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All this job entails is to preside over the Senate and, rarely, to break a tie vote. We make a lot of to-do about nothing.
Wouldn’t vote for Zuckerman even if he had short hair..hey Zuckerman, how much did it cost the taxpayers for yours and other legislatures trip to Cuba???
More than two years ago David Zuckerman suggested to me that “criminal market” was a better term for the illegal sale of drugs than “black market”. He was correct and I have tried to adjust my comments accordingly since then.
No, Bill. The job also entails the possibility that anti-vaxxer, bong-hit Dave could become the Governor on a moment’s notice. Heaven forbid.
And Mr. Ass is back at his factless comments again. David Zuckerman is not anti-vax. His daughter is fully vaccinated. His position is that families that have one child that reacts very badly to a vaccination should have the option of not vaccinating their other children. That seems perfectly reasonable to me. Since the number of those cases is seriously limited, it will not cause any deleterious effect to the herd immunization that occurs when a large percentage of children are vaccinated.
Secondly, sir, the fact that Zuckerman is for the licensing and selling of marijuana does not justify your snarky crack calling him bong-hit Dave. Have you taken your lessons from Mr. Trump?
I await with bated breath your snivelly one liner that fails to respond to anything in my comment.
Randy Brock must be getting desperate and afraid he is going to drown in the wave of revulsion that is sweeping across Vermont over a Republican Party that would choose Donald Trump as its standard bearer. Brock is trying his damnedest to play a race card based on the flimsiest of manufactured reasons and is obviously coming up short due to Mr. Zuckerman’s upfront and outstanding character.
OMG Alsop, do you not comprehend the difference between the medical exemption and the idiotic, so-called “philosophical” exemption? If a parent doesn’t want to vaccinate her second child because the first one had a serious reaction to the vaccination, she can consult her pediatrician and avail herself of the medical exemption.
Anti-science Zuckerman voted against repealing the PHILOSOPHICAL exemption, which allowed irrational people to avoid vaccinating their children merely because they felt like it. Please explain what the philosophical exemption has to do with medicine?
Zuckerman’s refusal to repeal the PHILOSOPHICAL exemption makes him an anti-vaxxer. The only science Zuckerman believes in is the science of climate change, which is politically correct. He rejects the science of public health.
BTW, the so-called “religious” exemption should also be repealed. None of the mainstream religions instructs against protecting our children from disease.
I missed the debate. But it appears Brock was at least partially successful in diverting attention from the issues that matter to the minutiae of political correctness.
The lieutenant governor has a significant role in the organization of the Senate and lately is considered by the Governor to be a member of the cabinet, relied on for policy advice. He or she is not just standing around waiting for the incumbent governor to die.
Mr. Ass, it’s nice to see you are alive and well, and can actually write a long post, even if it starts with OMG. I am well aware of David’s past stands on this issue, and if you watched the debate, he said exactly what I reported. To call him anti-science is your own take on past actions he has taken. Whether you believe in good conscience that politicians cannot change, you should say so. The fact that he voted to preserve the philosophical objection was a statement of the general principle that parents have the right to make these decisions, which I believe is his personal belief. But that is not the answer he gave at the debate. What he gave at the debate was an evolving position. I guess you don’t think he’s allowed to evolve.
And your reference to “mainstream religions” with regard to religious exemptions shows your disregard for the First Amendment. If only mainstream religions were protected, wouldn’t that violate the others’ constitutional rights?
Barbara Alslop, at your age I hope you’re getting the flu shot.
She is undoubtedly not getting the flu shot, for two reasons. First, the flu shot is part of the vast corporate-government-Big Pharma-military-industrial-Don Sinex-F35-Trump-Putin-Mayor Weinberger-pro development-anti union complex to invade our bodies, control our minds, and enslave us. Second, if she gets the flu, Bernie and Zuckerman can just heal her by laying their hands on her.
Paul and Mr. Ass will have their fun. I actually don’t get a flu shot because, without them, I haven’t gotten the flu since 1972. I see no reason to get one under those circumstances. But thanks for caring, guys.