People Are Outraged by This GOP Congressman's Comments About White People
During an RNC panel with MSNBC's Chris Hayes on Monday, a Republican congressman voiced his outrageous and factually inaccurate thoughts on race. Steve King, a representative from Iowa, said that white people have done more for the world than any other "subgroup" of people. Here's the quote:
"I'd ask you to go back through history and figure out, where are these contributions that have been made by these other categories of people that you're talking about — where did any other subgroup of people contribute more to civilization?"
Hayes was understandably shocked and asked King to clarify that he indeed meant "white people." King responded, "Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and the United States of America and every place where the footprint of Christianity settled the world," which is a verbose way of saying white people.
King has a record for making troubling comments about race. Speaking in 2013, he said for every child of an illegal immigrant (aka DREAMers) who becomes a valedictorian, "there's another 100 out there who weigh 130 pounds and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert." This year, King tried to stop the effort to put abolitionist Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill.
In Cleveland, POPSUGAR spoke to Eugene Craig, III, a black man and vice chair of the Maryland Republican Party, about his reaction to King's comments. Craig, 25, told us, "I think it's the lowest point of this convention. That should be the lead story, not Melania Trump's speech." Craig continued, "You have a congressman who has a very extensive history of borderline racist comments, and he's stepping out of the racist closet and saying that no other races have made advancements besides white people."
The internet was quick to react. Below are some biting responses.
melania trump plagiarizing michelle obama was bad, but steve king lifting from mein kampf really takes the cake for scandal of the day
— sean. (@SeanMcElwee) July 19, 2016
Rep. Steve King shouldn't be allowed to use any inventions created by people who are not white. No elevators, no microphones, no pacemakers.
— memento mori (@tristanreveur) July 18, 2016
African Americans at the RNC after Rep. Steve King's comments #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/ZxEAh77ule
— Sarah Cooper (@sarahcpr) July 18, 2016