Rep. Maxine Waters says she is puzzled by Rep. Allen West’s attacks that she’s an “overseer” of the “21st century plantation” of African-Americans backing the Democratic Party because West encouraged his own brother to come to her for help finding a job.

Speaking from a Congressional Black Caucus jobs fair in Atlanta on Thursday afternoon, the California Democrat said West’s remarks were “a little bit outrageous, a little bit ridiculous and that’s hard to respond to because absolutely does not make good sense.”


Waters said in an appearance on MSNBC that even more stunning than the Florida Republican’s comments was that West unleashed a broadside against her while encouraging his own brother to go to the Atlanta job fair Thursday.

“As a matter of fact, Mr. West’s brother is here. He found himself out of a job. And he asked his brother to help him, and his brother told him to come to me, to come to us,” Waters said, noting that the brother lives in Atlanta. “He came up and introduced himself.”

“That’s why I said that, you know, those statements are rather ridiculous and they don’t make good sense. But I guarantee him this: We’re going to do everything we can to help his brother get a job,” Waters said.

West said Wednesday that Democrats have a “plantation” overseen by leaders like Waters and Al Sharpton, and “the people on that plantation are upset because they’ve been disregarded, disrespected and their concerns are not cared about.”


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