Jasmine Crockett Roundly Checks CNN Pundit’s Bonkers ‘DEI’ Firefighting Talk

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) on Wednesday hit back at GOP pundit Scott Jennings after he appeared to link the response of Los Angeles firefighters battling devastating wildfires to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Jennings had turned to talk of DEI — a term conservatives have used as a racist dog whistle — while citing efforts by a program in California meant to diversify firefighting, a profession that NPR noted is “overwhelmingly white and male.”

″We have DEI, we have budget cuts and yet I’m wondering now if your house was burning down, how much do you care what color the firefighters are?” Jennings said on a “CNN NewsNight” panel.

Crockett swiftly shut him down.

“The fact is, stop trying to act as if only white men are the ones that are capable because right now, you’re sitting at a table with three very capable Black women,” said Crockett, who was joined by Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-Virgin Islands) and host Abby Phillip on the panel.

Moments earlier, Crockett noted that conservatives have shared social media posts about Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin M. Crowley, who has been with the department for over two decades, being a woman.

“That has nothing to do with it. We are looking at qualifications,” said Crockett of Crowley, the first woman and LGBTQ+ person to lead the department.

“What diversity, equity and inclusion has always been about is saying, ‘You know what, open this up. Don’t just look at the white men. Open it up and recognize that other people can be qualified.’”

She continued by questioning why conservatives would “decide that a country of immigrants is failing” or that “people are dying” because of the “same very people that built this country.”

″Cause the last time I checked, y’all didn’t say that anything was wrong with the White House. And I can promise you, it was my ancestors that built the White House,” she said of the president’s residence, which was built mostly by enslaved and free Black people.

She continued, “So, listen, if we have been good enough to build this country, we are good enough to serve and die overseas, we are good enough to serve in other ways. And the fact that people actually decide that they want to engage in public service — whether it’s sitting in Congress or whether it’s serving on the fire department or the police department — should not be an issue.”

Jennings, in response to Crockett, said he wasn’t trying to say that white men are the only ones capable of being firefighters.

“I’m just simply saying that as a matter of public policy in California, the main interest in the fire department lately has been in DEI programing and budget cuts…,” he said.

Phillip went on to question Jennings over how the wildfires have “anything to do with DEI.”

H/T: Mediaite