Chuck Schumer Apologizes for Saying the R-Word

On Sunday, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer used the term “retarded” — or the r-word — on the OneNYCHA podcast while discussing a past battle over constructing a congregate living facility for intellectually disabled children.

“When I first was assemblyman, they wanted to build a congregate living place for retarded children,” Schumer said. “The whole neighborhood was against it. These are harmless kids, they just needed some help”

Appearing on the ⁦⁦@OneNYCHA podcast, @SenSchumer⁩ refers to mentally disabled children as “retarded” pic.twitter.com/l9HppDj0Bv

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) June 14, 2021

While the term “retarded” used to be commonplace medical jargon devoid of stigma, it has morphed into a slur used casually by everyone from schoolyard bullies to ignorant adults. Contemporary usage of the word is meant to belittle, trivialize and marginalize people and things, and it is never used in a clinical context. In an effort to update the U.S. government’s language, in 2010, Barack Obama signed Rosa’s Law, excising “retarded” and all permutations thereof from federal health, education and labor documents.

Although a spokesperson for Schumer apologized, calling the term “inappropriate” and “outdated,” his apology left much to be desired. To have been more effective, Schumer himself — not an aide — should have delivered his regrets directly to the intellectually and developmentally disabled community, which has been so harmed by the slur.

If the Senate Majority Leader himself was present to employ the word in the first place, he should also have been the one to express contrition for it. Such an apology from someone in a position of power would have set the tone across the wider culture that the “r-word” should never be used, no matter the circumstance.

Furthermore, the spokesperson said that the organization fighting for the congregate living facility used to be known as the Association for the Help of Retarded Children and stressed Schumer’s advocacy for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, as if to shield the Senator from the impact of his words. To be most effective, apologies need to come from a place of sincere contrition, not merely a wish to quell the controversy.

While Schumer may not have meant to offend, the “r-word” has been hurled at individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities for generations. A better apology would have stressed that no one in the disability community deserves the pain that this language currently connotes, that there was no excuse for the Senate Majority Leader’s ignorance and that he won’t utter the “r-word” again. In my opinion, only then will Schumer have earned forgiveness from the intellectual and developmental disability community.

Related: Yes, Using the R-Word Is a Big Deal