WASHINGTON, D.C.—People For the American Way today called on the U.S. House of Representatives to censure U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, following King’s racist comments in The New York Times.
“Steve King’s long history of explicitly racist comments is an embarrassment to our country and to Congress,” PFAW President Michael Keegan said. “Steve King has a First Amendment right to spew his hatred and bile, but Congress is under no obligation to stand silently by as one of its members uses his platform to sow bigotry and division. At the very least, his colleagues should censure him immediately for his bigoted remarks quoted by The New York Times. His GOP colleagues’ failure to condemn his rhetoric begs the question: ‘Is there any statement too racist for Trump’s Republican Party?’ So far, the answer has been a resounding no.”
Keegan was reacting to a story published by the Times today quoting King explicitly asserting White supremacy:
“White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” Mr. King said. “Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?”
As documented by PFAW’s Right Wing Watch, King has:
- Endorsed a white nationalist in her campaign for Toronto mayor;
- Quoted white nationalists online;
- Joined a panel of white nationalists criticizing multiculturalism;
- Cited white nationalists on his congressional website;
- Elevated a Holocaust denier on Twitter;
- Accused black and Latino members of congress of fostering “anti-white” culture;
- Claimed that white people are the greatest contributors to human civilization;
- Likened Syrian refugee to poisonous grapes;
- Dismissed racial profiling by police because the people affected “all appear to be of a single origin, I should say, a continental origin”; and
- Appeared on radio programs hosted by white nationalists…
- …all the while receiving overwhelming support from white nationalist communities online.
“Trump and the GOP have given their silent consent to King’s disgusting, repeated racism, and as they have done so, King has escalated his volume and the intensity of his embrace of White supremacy,” Keegan continued. “Enough. The House should censure King immediately.”
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