Alabama’s junior U.S. senator, Tommy Tuberville, is well-seasoned as an athletic coach, having spent some 40 years on the gridiron. However, he’s still a wet-behind-the-ears neophyte as politics goes, with less than two years in the exclusive club that is the U.S. Senate. While many ascend to the upper chamber after careers in elected office, Tuberville’s lack of political experience leaves him to learn as he goes, as his remarks at an Oct. 8 event suggest, he hasn’t yet discerned the difference between a statesman and a political hack.

That’s unfortunate, as in a little more than three months, Tuberville will assume the mantle of the state’s senior U.S. Senator.

On Oct. 8, Tuberville spoke at a rally in Nevada held in support of Republican candidates in that state’s races, and his remarks, meant to demonize Democrats, were taken as an affront to African Americans.

“They’re not soft on crime,” Tuberville said of Democrats. “They’re pro-crime. They want crime. They want crime because they want to take over what you got. They want to control what you have. They want reparation because they think the people that do the crime are owed that.”

Poet Maya Angelou once said, “When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.” Tuberville has made no statement to address the outrage over his Oct. 8 remarks.

It should be a learning moment for the greenhorn senator. We join the growing chorus of voices urging Tuberville to respond one way or another, explain what he meant, walk the comments back, or try to mitigate the effect of his words with a PR spin.

Silence is tantamount to doubling down on his incendiary remarks, and that’s more partisan flame throwing than the statesmanship becoming to a senior U.S. Senator.