On Wednesday, U.S. Reps. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise) and Jerry Carl (R-Mobile) squared off against one another in a debate at the Daphne Civic Center on Baldwin County's Eastern Shore.
Both Moore and Carl are vying for the GOP nod in Alabama's first congressional district.
At one point during the debate, the two were asked to respond to GOP presidential hopeful former Gov. Nikki Haley's (R-S.C.) rejection of a claim the United States was a "racist nation."
During his response, Carl claimed "everyone has some type of racist in them," which later surfaced in national media reports.
On Thursday's broadcast of Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5's "The Jeff Poor Show," Moore reacted to Carl's comments, calling them "concerning."
"I thought that was very concerning," Moore said. "I mean, look — this nation has had some issues in the past. But like I said, I think we have moved past that. A lot of what Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement — this nation had began to heal move beyond that. My point was, until Black Lives Matter, until ANTIFA, until folks started trying to make that the main issue on every issue, that's when the nation started again to see the ugliness rear its head, if you will."
"It's like I told last night — my son tells the story of when he was in a science class and they put red and black ants in the aquarium," he continued. "The ants function fine. They do what ants do until somebody shook the aquarium. The ants turn on each other as the enemy. As a nation, we need to figure out who is shaking our aquarium because we know united, this nation is very powerful. But if we fall, it will be from within. We don't need to be divided from within. We need to come together and move forward. It's one thing to learn from your history. We shouldn't necessarily repeat that. I think there is an opportunity for us to heal as a nation and move forward. That's what I plan on doing in Congress. That's what I've been doing since I got there."
"The fact that Jerry [Carl] said some of the things he said was concerning," Moore added. "I don't think that's necessarily the right way to approach that."
Jeff Poor is the editor in chief of 1819 News and host of "The Jeff Poor Show," heard Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-noon on Mobile's FM Talk 106.5. To connect or comment, email jeff.poor@1819News.com or follow him on Twitter @jeff_poor.
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