Conrad Burns
Conrad R. Burns (born January 25, 1935) is a Republican United States Senator from Montana.In 1994 Burns told the editorial board of the Bozeman Chronicle that when asked by a constituent, "how can you live back there Washington, DC with all those niggers?" he replied, "[It's] a hell of a challenge." About the use of the racial slur: "I never give it much thought."
In Feburaury 17th, 1999, while at a meeting of the Montana Implement Dealers Association in Billings, Montana, Burns referred to Arabic people as "ragheadss".
Burns also has a legislative history of supporting measures and bills which would reduce (American) Indian tribal sovereignty, including a bill, co-sponsored with Slade Gorton, that would require tribes to waive sovereignty rights such as immunity from lawsuits, in addition to meeting means testing, before they could receive federal funds. He has also sponsored legislation that would violate treaties by eliminating Native jurisdiction of reservation land owned by non-Indians.
External Links
- A political outsider wages a clever campaign by Steve Thompson article from 2000 election which discusses the raghead comment and Burns then opponent and current gubinatorial candidate Brian Schweitzer.
- Burns' Senatorial Homepage
- MHRN: Yet Another Land Grab in Indian Country
- Missoula Independent: Going Non-Native, by Ron Selden, New report tracks Montana’s anti-Indian movement
