Crazy Talk: 'Chief Chicken Little'

Lansing Mayor Virg Berner, under fire for what two Michigan tribes described as a string of anti-Indian slurs made at a recent fundraiser, has denied this week that the remarks combining profanity with references to "bows and arrows," and nicknaming a Native American opponent "Chief Chicken-Little," were inappropriate. ย  Suggested Reading How Bakari Sellers Just…

Lansing Mayor Virg Berner, under fire for what two Michigan tribes described as a string of anti-Indian slurs made at a recent fundraiser, has denied this week that the remarks combining profanity with references to "bows and arrows," and nicknaming a Native American opponent "Chief Chicken-Little," were inappropriate. ย 

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The Detroit Free Press reports:

The Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi and the Saginaw Chippewas, who are opponents of a proposed casino in Lansing that would be operated by another tribe, said Bernero โ€œrepeatedly used profanity and racial slurs in describing the (casino) controversy.โ€

The tribes said Bernero referred to a bullโ€™s-eye on his back and said that he was the target of โ€œbows and arrowsโ€ for championing the casino proposal.

James Nye, a Lansing lobbyist for the Nottawaseppi and Saginaw Chippewas, who is a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, said he was told by several people attending the fund-raiser that Bernero singled him out as โ€œChief Chicken Little.โ€

Nye said the remarks, at a Thursday morning mayoral fund-raiser, were โ€œinexcusable.โ€

โ€œIโ€™ve been in a lot of debates but never been personally attacked,โ€ he said. โ€œThis is embarrassing โ€ฆ pretty disgusting.โ€

Bernero's weak response suggests that he believes these loaded terms were the only way to get his point across: "Nothing I said can fairly be construed as a racial slur โ€ฆ I make no apologies for using strong language against our opponents โ€ฆ but I do offer my heartfelt and sincere apology to any and all who were offended by my choice of words," he said in a statement.

Read more at the Detroit Free Press.ย 

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