Vicki Marble, Colorado State Senator, Links Poverty To Friend Chicken

Colorado state Senator Vicki Marble caused a stir on Wednesday when she said high poverty rates are connected to diets that include fried chicken and barbecue.

Who was Marble speaking about? The Colorado State Senator was speaking about the poverty levels of blacks and Hispanics according to the Huffington Post.

“When you look at life expectancy, there are problems in the black race,” Marbles began. She continued on to say:

“Sickle-cell anemia is something that comes up. Diabetes is something that’s prevalent in the genetic makeup, and you just can’t help it.

“Although I’ve got to say, I’ve never had better barbecue and better chicken and ate better in my life than when you go down South and you, I mean, I love it. Everybody loves it.”

Of course, Marbles wasn’t focusing solely on the black community, oh no. She talked about the Hispanic community as well:

“The Mexican diet in Mexico with all of the fresh vegetables, and you go down there and they are much thinner than they are up here. They’ve changed their diet. I’ve read studies on that.”

News One reported that Marbles’ comments offended several legislators on the committee, including Rep. Rhonda Fields of Aurora.

“You mentioned what we eat — I was highly offended by your remarks,” Fields said.

“I will not engage in a dialogue where you are using these stereotypical references about African-Americans and chicken and food. I will not tolerate that.

“This is not what this committee is all about. … What we are trying to do is come up with meaningful solutions. This is not about eating chicken.”

Before the issue could blow up into something even worse, Senator John Kefalas, committee chairman, called a recess. When they all came back together, the subject wasn’t brought up.

Marble later did release a statement stating the following:

“My comments were not meant to be disparaging to any community,” she said.

“I am saddened they were taken in that regard. I take my responsibility seriously and I hope our work on this committee will offer real solutions to the health and financial challenges of our vulnerable populations.”

Hmm, so making remarks such as poverty is because of fried chicken and barbecue isn’t supposed to be offending? Not sure where Vicki Marble was going with that chicken comment then.

Check out the audio below provided by the Denver Post:

[Image via TeaLiberty.com]