The electoral battle between the Republican candidate Roy Moore, and Doug Jones of the Democrat party for a Senate seat in the state of Alabama has been marred with several controversies involving Moore.
Here are some of the most memorable statements made by him in past years.
- ‘Well, one of our attorneys is a Jew’
Moore’s wife Kayla Moore tried to dismiss claims that her husband doesn’t support Jews or blacks, by stating in a campaign rally that one of their attorneys was a Jew and that they had “very close friends” who are rabbis and Jews.
She also pointed out that her husband had appointed the first black marshal to the state Supreme Court.
- Getting rid of amendments “would eliminate many problems.”
In 2011, a radio host suggested that all constitutional amendments after the tenth be abolished to which Moore said, “that would eliminate many problems.”
Some of the important constitutional amendments after No. 10 include 19th, which granted women the right to vote, and the 13th which abolished slavery.
Moore’s campaign later clarified that Moore does not believe that amendments should be eradicating stating that he has never “favored limiting an individual’s right to vote”, adding that he was known for his fairness as a judge.
- ‘Reds and yellows’
Moore has used the derogative term “reds and yellows” as slurs towards Native Americans and Asians respectively during a September rally.
Moore had referred to the term while discussing “racial, political and other divisions,” according to a media report.
– Drive-by shootings and evolution
While a county circuit judge in 1997, Moore attempted to associate drive-by shootings with the concept of evolution.
The speech can be seen in a video posted by CNN reporter Christopher Massie, which showed Moore saying that kids who did not know each other were shooting each other because “we’ve taught them they’ve come from animals, and not from God”
– ‘Sharia law right now in our country’
In an interview this August, Moore told a reporter that some communities in America were “under Sharia law right now”
When pressed for specifics Moore said he was “informed” about them but he “didn’t know if there are” any.
Fact-checking organisation Politifact said that it had found “zero evidence” of the existence of such communities.
– On Slavery
In September, while addressing a rally, Moore talked about slavery while describing the meaning of President Donald Trump’s slogan “Make America great again.”
Responding to a question asked by a black man Moore said that America was great when “families were united, even though we had slavery, they cared for one another.”
