Unfortunately, you read that headline correctly. Indiana state representative Vanessa Summers, a Democrat, actually got on the state House floor during a debate over the religious freedom bill, where she informed her GOP colleague Jud McMillin that his son is “scared” of her because she is black.

McMillin’s son is 18 months old. Not years, MONTHS.

“I told Jud McMillin I love his son, but he’s scared of me because of my color,” Summers told McMillin, who is white, during debate over the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in the House.

“It’s hard,” said Summers, D-Indianapolis. Then, as other lawmakers groaned at the comments, she followed up with, “It’s true.”

Summers stood by her comments afterward, detailing the meeting with McMillin’s young son earlier in the session.

“He looked at me like I was a monster and turned around and cried. And I told him you need to introduce your child to some people that are dark-skinned so he will not be scared,” she said.

Asked whether his son shied away because of her skin color, she said, “I truly believe so.”

This is so mind-numbingly insanely stupid that I don’t even know where to begin. (The video is here, if anyone wants to hear how crazy this sounded.) But we’ll start with McMillin’s response back to Summers.

McMillin, R-Brookville, called Summers’ comments “unfortunate.”

“It’s just incredibly unfortunate. You’d like to think that we would have professional discussion on the House floor and certainly be able to avoid having 18-month-olds in the discussion,” he said.

“I can tell you that if he reacted the same way he reacts with anybody brand new, he buries his head in his dad’s shoulder,” McMillin said. “Whoever it is, it’s what he does. He’s an 18-month-old kid; he’s in a new environment up here in the place like the Statehouse but doesn’t know anybody. I honestly don’t remember anything out of the ordinary.”

Is this seriously going to be a new thing? A baby cries at the sight of a stranger approaching them. They cling to mom or dad, because they know them. And if that person is of a different color, the baby is now a racist, and, by extension, the parents are as well for not “introducing” that same baby to lots of different strangers???

My baby just turned two, so I’m in this same stage of life with a similarly-aged child. Newsflash for Vanessa Summers – children are not fond of strangers. It is the rare child who DOESN’T cling to mom or dad when not in a strange environment. Want proof? Take an 18 month old to see Santa Claus and try to take pictures. In Vanessa Summers’ world, an 18 month old wouldn’t cry, because Santa is generally portrayed by a white man. All parents who have ever tried to get a Santa picture with a toddler know what a load of absolute crap Summers just dished out.

And what kind of person is Summers that she casts up the behavior of a baby in a public forum to his father? She was trying to prove how difficult her life is as a black woman in Indiana. If the only example she can pull out is that an 18 month old was afraid of her, and that proves racism, then her life isn’t all that difficult. My gut says she wanted to smear McMillin as a racist, and tried to do that by bringing up his son’s behavior. The visceral reaction of her House colleagues, who obviously all knew the age of the boy, and her immediate “it’s true” comment, say to me that she’s just trying to “get” McMillin.

Instead, she ended up looking insane. But she won’t be censured for it.

House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, said lawmakers are advised against bringing up their colleagues’ family members in negative comments but did not say he planned to sanction Summers in any way.

Bosma also thought the comment was “unfortunate” but left it to other lawmakers to decide how to react.

“I’d agree, it was an unfortunate comment. But what’s said is said. On an emotional issue for folks, they sometimes say things that aren’t advisable,” Bosma said. “That’s probably one of these times.”

So it is left to the court of public opinion to censure Summers for calling an 18 month old a racist, and for projecting her own perceptions on race onto a small child. It never occurred to her that a child might avoid her because she’s a “stranger.” She can only see it through a racial lens. Which says A LOT more about her than it does about the 18 month old.