The point is, he (allegedly) said black people abort their babies and are in jail BECAUSE they never learned to pick cotton.
There’s nothing more to be said than that to explain it’s racial overtones. You may interpret it as you have, but it’s also perfectly reasonable to interpret it as saying, “black people were too stupid to pick cotton, to earn a decent living for themselves, so now they turn to crime to do so and abort babies that cost too much”.
That’s another, perfectly valid interpretation of the phrase in question and it’s racist.
You are taking it too literally and out of context. This is what he allegedly said, "I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro," he said. Mr. Bundy recalled driving past a public-housing project in North Las Vegas, "and in front of that government house the door was usually open and the older people and the kids — and there is always at least a half a dozen people sitting on the porch — they didn't have nothing to do. They didn't have nothing for their kids to do. They didn't have nothing for their young girls to do."
"And because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do?" he asked. "They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I've often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn't get no more freedom. They got less freedom."
There’s nothing more to be said than that to explain it’s racial overtones. You may interpret it as you have, but it’s also perfectly reasonable to interpret it as saying, “black people were too stupid to pick cotton, to earn a decent living for themselves, so now they turn to crime to do so and abort babies that cost too much”.
It is only "perfectly reasonable" to a fool or a race baiter.
That’s another, perfectly valid interpretation of the phrase in question and it’s racist.
It is only racist to racists.