Newt Gingrich's latest outrageous comments show his deep contempt for poor children in America. First Newt
suggested that child labor laws are "stupid", and that the solution to child poverty in America was to employ poor children as janitors in schools. Then, he
stated that poor children don't understand work unless it's illegal.
Apparently Newt, who earned a PhD in history, is forgetting America's history of child labor abuse. Before child labor laws were enacted, children were employed in slave-like, often fatal working conditions in production factories. Surely Newt should understand the importance of protecting the most vulnerable in American society.
His newer comments about children in poor neighborhoods only wanting to break the law is an attempt to connect poverty with a lack of morals. Obviously Newt, who has $20 million in the bank, has a lot to learn about working class Americans. Let's demand an apology for these insensitive remarks.
We the undersigned take issue with your recent problematic comments about underprivileged children in America. First of all, calling child labor laws stupid is an insult to all those children who have been protected by them. Please remember that before these laws were enacted, American children were forced to work in disgusting conditions in factories and mines. Many children died as a result of this abuse.
As for your other comment that poor children only understand illegal work, please understand that this suggests there is a connection between poverty and moral degeneration. This is insulting to the roughly 15 million children who live in poverty in America. We ask that you apologize for these remarks out of respect for these children.
