Nicole Collier
Role at the time: Texas state representative (D-Fort Worth), interviewed on MS NOW’s PoliticsNation
Statement summary
Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier, asked about Vance’s convention speech on MS NOW’s PoliticsNation, said Vance “didn’t say he wasn’t racist” and “just said he’s tired of being called racist”. She called his comments hypocritical because he is married to a woman “that has a family from another country”, and asked who he meant in saying the country is tired of “people that are dirtier”. She said the remark is “solidifying his name as a racist”.
“He didn’t say he wasn’t racist. He just said he’s tired of being called racist. … And it’s so hypocritical for him to make these kind of comments. I mean, he’s married to a woman that has a family from another country. They have a culture that’s different. And yet he’s trying to say our country is tired of people that are dirtier. Who is that? … So, you know, this is not solidifying his future for president. It’s solidifying his name as a racist.”
Clip from MS NOW’s “PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton.” The host plays Vance’s sentence about being “called racist for noticing that our country was becoming dirtier and poorer and less safe and less prosperous,” then asks his guest, Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier, for her thoughts on the vice president’s remarks.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Why we used this label
Relative to Vance’s statement that supporters had been called racist for noticing the country becoming “dirtier”, Collier criticizes it as hypocritical and says it is “solidifying his name as a racist”. That is an express criticism of the statement, not only a dispute over its label, so condemns fits better than “Challenged the characterization”.