US Arkansas legislator makes claims about slavery in new book. (Paula Bronstein/AFP/Getty Images)

Arkansas legislator, Republican Jon Hubbard, says slavery may ‘have been a blessing’ in his new book.

Hubbard, a first term member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, made a number of “racially charged statements” in “Letters to the Editor: Confessions of a Frustrated Conservative,” according to the Huffington Post.

The Arkansas Times reported Hubbard wrote:

“… the institution of slavery that the black race has long believed to be an abomination upon its people may actually have been a blessing in disguise. The blacks who could endure those conditions and circumstances would someday be rewarded with citizenship in the greatest nation ever established upon the face of the Earth.” (Pages 183-89)

In his self-published book, Hubbard also said school integration between African-Americans and whites is hurting whites, describing black students as having “a lack of discipline and ambition.”

He added, “even while in the throes of slavery, their lives as Americans are likely much better than they ever would have enjoyed living in sub-Saharan Africa,” The Arkansas Times wrote.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/121006/arkansas-legislator-says-slavery-may-have-been-b