Leaders Condemn Gov. Scott Walker Attendance at Event Employing High Ranking Official Who Says ‘Black Race’ is ‘Lazier Than the White Race’

MADISON, Wis. — Last week, Gov. Scott Walker was featured at a Milwaukee event hosted by America First Policies, an affiliated arm of the the America First Super PAC. Last week was a busy one for the Trump-Pence aligned group. In addition to hosting Walker, the group’s advocacy director, Carl Higbie, made a media appearance in which he defended his racist statements that “… the black race as a whole, not totally, is lazier than the white race, period” and Black women believe, “breeding is a form of employment.”

Angela Lang, Executive Director of Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC) responded saying, ”Higbie’s disgusting comments unfortunately are a symptom of the white supremacy that has been boiling over since the Trump administration began. Walker’s silence on these reprehensible comments show that Walker has never stood with or cared about the Black community in Wisconsin.”

America First Director of Advocacy Carl Higbie worked as a radio host before joining the Trump administration. During his time on the air he espoused appalling racist sentiments including those characterizing the “black race” as “lazier than the white race.” He left the Trump administration after his comments were reported and moved into his current position in the pro Trump-Pence group.

In defending his comments last week Higbie alleged his racism was a “statistical observation.”

Walker introduced Pence at the America First event that also included a panel discussion featuring U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman and a representative of Foxconn, the Taiwanese based corporation in line to get $4.5 billion from Wisconsin taxpayers to build a factory in Southeastern Wisconsin.

One Wisconsin Now Research Director Joanna Beilman-Dulin noted Walker’s miserable track record on issues of particular concern to communities of color as Governor, commenting, “Scott Walker has stuck head in the sand over racial profiling, abided the display of symbols of hate like the confederate flag and signed laws a federal judge said were specifically targeted to discourage minority voting. It’s this kind of disregard for communities of color that leads Scott Walker to participate in events run by the group that puts racists like Carl Higbie in leadership positions.”

The Milwaukee-based BLOC works to ensure a high quality of life and access to opportunities for members of the Black community in Milwaukee and throughout Wisconsin.

One Wisconsin Now maintains an extensive research library providing documentation of Scott Walker’s quarter century in public office, available at the Scott Walker Files website.