“The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state. That is not going to work. That’s not going to be good for Florida.”
The author (speaker) is Ron DeSantis who is competing in the gubernatorial race in Florida this fall. The quote is part of a statement he made about his African American rival, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum.
Republican and Democrats have joining in criticizing the use of the term 'monkey'. The negative (stereotypical) association of 'monkey' with racial overtones has a long history, as the Washington Post points out.
- Scientific theories about the relationship between apes and dark-skinned people were promulgated in the mid-1800's.
- Museum displays depicting the evolution of primates to humans positioned the black adult next to the chimpanzee, according to author and historian W. E. B. Du Bois.
- More recently, Rosanna Barr applied the comparison to a former Obama adviser, comparing her to an ape: “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby....”
Whether this term is an indicator of DeSantis' personal bias is unclear. The context might say otherwise as it's applied to the state of Florida, not necessarily his opponent. But based on the reaction, it's a poor choice of word and one that generated a bad press.
The words we use can be triggers. It's useful to know what they are and pay attention.
A word like 'monkey' (even used as a verb) should pop out when read. That's often the way it is with bias. Instead of that word, what else could the author have used? And why didn't he?
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