Video appears to dispute lawmaker's claim of protesters' racial slurs By Kerry Picket
March 20, 2010
Rep. Andre Carson, Indiana Democrat, who is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, claims
that "tea party" protesters hurled racial slurs at fellow CBC member Rep. John Lewis,
Georgia Democrat.
Mr. Carson said that "hundreds of people" were chanting, "Kill the bill," and he heard "at least 15 times"
the "n-word" being thrown around.
Congressional Black Caucus 3 20 2010"It just happened on the way to votes. Coming out of [the Cannon House Office Building] . . .
John Lewis chief of staff came with us. It was just the three of us walking down the steps.
'Kill the bill, kill the bill.' . . . 'n-word' fifteen times," he said. "Capitol Police finally became
aware and began protecting us."
The video above was taken as Mr. Lewis and Mr. Carson walked toward a crowd of protesters,
and
racial epithets from the crowd appear to be absent from the scene captured.
A U.S. Capitol Police spokeswoman said she was unaware of any law enforcement inquiry into
the incidents.
Rep Emanuel Cleaver II, Missouri Democrat, who is black, claimed he was spat on by a protester.
Mr. Cleaver's office reportedly said Capitol Police arrested the protester, but his office did not press
charges. However, Sgt. Kimberly Schneider of the U.S. Capitol Police said in an e-mail to the L.A. Times,
"We did not make any arrests today."
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Maryland Democrat released a statement Saturday night condemning the
reported allegations.
"Today's protests against health insurance reform saw a rash of despicable, inflammatory behavior,
much of it directed at minority Members of Congress," Mr. Hoyer said. "According to reports, anti-reform
protestors spat on Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, yelled a sexual slur at Rep. Barney Frank, and addressed my dear
friend, Rep. John Lewis, with a racial slur that he has sadly heard far too many times."
The Washington Times caught up with several health care bill protesters, all three of whom
are black, and asked their thoughts on the allegations regarding the racial epithets.Tea Party protesters mob Reps Lewis, Carson, CummingsBill Owens Jr., a Tea Party Express leader from Las Vegas, said he did not experience or witness
any racial hostility.
"I had a chance to be among these people. It's not about pigmentation. You have race issues going
on all the time; however, I'm not seeing anything significant from these rallies. It's just not there,"
he said. "Does a person find a racist once in a while? . . . Sure, you find that anywhere. These people
are concerned about the issues of where you stand, not what color you are."
Charlene Freedman, a health care bill protester from New Jersey, has been to Washington four times,
since she first attended the 9/12 rally. When asked if she witnessed or heard any racial hostility from
the crowd, she said: "Absolutely not . . . just well-wishers. I didn't see color. They didn't see my color.
We're just American citizens, and we're here to say, 'Keep America free.' I've heard nothing about
racism . . . nothing at all."
Jay Jarbo came to the health care protest from Atlanta and explained: "I just want to see them follow
the Constitution, and they're not doing that. Anyone that tries to throw around the racial thing, just
squash it, because this has nothing to do with race.
I haven't heard anyone say anything about race
at any one of these events," Mr. Jarbo said. "Honestly, this is the type of thing people bring up to
distract from the real issues, and it's always about race in this country, and its always the last card
in the deck that everyone plays."
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