American politics continues its long-running experiment in seeing whether public figures can pretend not to understand obvious racial subtext, with Rep. Jen Kiggans now facing backlash after nodding along to a phrase that arrived trailing several centuries of historical freight. Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA), already one of the GOP's most vulnerable incumbents even after state courts struck down efforts to redraw her district to favor Democrats, landed in hot water on Monday after a clip went viral of her  agreeing with a right-wing talk radio host  telling Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) to "get your cotton-picking hands off of Virginia" — a common colloquial phrase, but one with a deeply charged double meaning given that Jeffries is Black. The moment immediately brought her under fire on social media, including from some fellow members of Congress. "The hood is off," wrote Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY).…