Bill Armistead, Chairman of the Alabama Republican Party, has called on Alvin Holmes to “put up or shut up” after his recent racist comment, when the House was debating a pro-life bill, that white men would make their daughter have an abortion if they got pregnant by a black man. “I will bring you $100,000 cash tomorrow if you show me a whole bunch of whites that adopted blacks in Alabama. I will go down there and mortgage my house and get it in cash in $20 bills and bring it to you in a little briefcase,” Holmes boasted.
“Alvin has played the race card one too many times and it is high time that the Alabama Democrat Party put a muzzle on him or ask him to resign from the House. He is an embarrassment to our state,” Armistead continued.
“I would like for him to man up – he’s made the statement, he needs to put his money where his mouth is,” said Beverly Owings. Mrs. Owings made her comment at recent rally held in Montgomery to demonstrate that there are numerous white parents in Alabama who have black children. Owings is mother to an adopted 13-year-old black daughter. Others in attendance expressed disbelief and disappointment in Holmes’ comments, saying they are anachronistic in contemporary Alabama.
Another couple, Joy and Cole Portis, took offense at Holmes’ comment and posted a picture on Facebook of her husband Cole and herself, surrounded by their eight children, telling Holmes that they are one of many Alabama families who have welcomed children of different ethnicities into their homes with open arms. “Meet our family. We see people, not skin color, and there are many families like ours here in Montgomery and all over the State of Alabama” she wrote. The Facebook post included a photo of the family, which proudly shows the couple’s three biological children and their adopted children, including their two daughters from Ethiopia, their biracial son with Downs Syndrome and African American son.
“Representative Holmes needs to step forward and live up to his comment by donating his promised $100,000 to one of these families who have adopted black children,” Armistead said. “If he has a problem deciding which family should get the $100,000, I suggest that he give it to an adoption agency such as Sav-A-Life of Montgomery Inc., which also offers pregnancy counseling services to young women.”
“Alvin is quick to call others racists, while proving time and time again that he is a racist himself. Fortunately, the voters in Holmes’ House District 78 no longer have to tolerate a representative who is more interested in creating absurd headlines than helping his constituents. They will have a choice in November. Tijuanna Adetunji is the Republican candidate in District 78 who has respect for people of all races and will work for the betterment of her constituents and not for her own self-aggrandizement,” Armistead continued.