All right, so Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, said, "This baby is black. It's a dark, ugly thing." What does this mean? Well, it was in the context of his trying to stop a bill that would have helped his constituents by equalizing property taxes around the state. Unless this "ugly baby" bill becomes law, West Jordaners will pay higher property taxes as a result of the splitting up of the Jordan School District. Buttars was not looking out for his constituents.

The statement was clearly not intended to be racist, but few in the public eye intend to sound racist. In this case, racism oozed out. Unfortunately for Buttars, he is unaware of the key offending words that would help him hide his racism. Now, how big of an offense is this? For some it is very serious. It brings up the institutionalized racism we are still trying to root out of our country. For others, like Buttars, it is much ado about very little. After all, he didn't intend anything bad. He was just trying to make sure his constituents' property taxes go up, including mine.

Mike Nelson

West Jordan