Maryland Delegate Refers to PG County With a Racial Slur

Maryland Delegate Mary Ann Lisanti in Maryland General Assembly

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Maryland Delegate Mary Ann Lisanti in Maryland General Assembly

Last month Maryland Delegate Mary Ann Lisanti, a democrat for Harford county, referred to Prince George’s county as an n-word district, according to the Washington Post.

The US Census reports that 64% of Prince George’s county is black, and is also one of the top affluent majority black counties in the nation. Harford county is 80% white.

“I think its funny that she was bold enough to say it in the first place. How do you do that?” said senior Beverly Obodaifio after hearing the lawmaker’s comments about Prince George’s County.

This week, Lisanti apologized for her word choice. “I am sickened that a word that is not in my vocabulary came out of my mouth,” she wrote in her official statement.

In a conference this week, Listani publicized that she will be stepping down as chair of the Unemployment Insurance Subcommittee on the House Economic Matters Committee.

“It’s embarrassing, I feel bad for the people who had to hear that,” said senior Luke Hanno, who doesn’t consider it socially acceptable for non-black people to say the word.

“Maryland is an interesting state because we have white predominantly white districts, predominantly black districts and then diverse counties,” says teacher Alex Kinder. After hearing Listani’s remarks, he commented that “Just the fact that people still think it’s okay to use the term and to use it in a public forum in that way. Especially as a lawmaker, it’s mind boggling she would do that.”