Antonio Condemns Huffman's Remarks

Today, Senator Nickie J. Antonio (D-Lakewood) issued the following statement in response to Senator Steve Huffman’s (R-Tipp City) question about whether “the colored population” has been disproportionately affected by Covid-19 because they “do not wash their hands as well as other groups” during a committee hearing on Tuesday: “I was stunned and horrified to hear both the question and the language used. I condemn these statements from my colleague and medical professional. Clearly, these words from the Senator are an indication of how much antiracism work we have to do in the legislature and in our state to address explicit and implicit racial biases. It’s clear that racism is a public health crisis – we should continue the hearings on the resolution introduced by Senators Craig and Williams and I support the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus’ call that all lawmakers and staff take racial equity and implicit bias training.” Senator Antonio is the Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Human Services and Medicaid Committee.