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While You Were Watching Melania: Rep. Steve King’s Telling Racist Remarks

While You Were Watching Melania: Rep. Steve King’s Telling Racist Remarks

Last updated on: July 19, 2016 at 3:06 pm by Erin Wathen

While You Were Watching Melania: Rep. Steve King’s Telling Racist Remarks 2016-07-19T15:06:05-07:00 Erin Wathen

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While everyone was busy watching the absurd 60-Minutes interview; while we laughed at the disastrous rolling out of his VP pick, and the subsequent rolling back of the dumbfounding logo (the memes tho…totally worth it); while we shook our heads at the Melania plagiarism fiasco and wondering Michelle should take it as a weird sort of compliment(?); something else was happening:

Iowa Congressman Steve King made an overtly racist statement in a public forum; and exactly nothing happened.

Nothing. Crickets. No response, renouncement or call for apology from his constituents.

In a panel discussion on MSNBC, host Chris Hayes asked some questions about the demographic makeup of the Republican party. Historically (at least in recent decades) the base has been overwhelmingly white, and this year, even moreso. (Only 18 of the 2,472 convention delegates are black. Not 1800. Not 180. 18).

Rep. King responded with the following: “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 are talking about? Where did any other subgroup of people contribute more to civilization?”

? ?

The statement is unconscionable, and overtly racist. And yet…Crickets. Actually, not crickets. There was immediate backlash within the panel, and from the social media machine. But from fellow leaders in the GOP, there’s been radio silence.

Gage Skidmore, via Wikimedia

Granted, this has not been what we’d call a season of forward-thinking enlightenment for the Republicans. Their presumptive nominee has said appalling things about women, Muslims,and immigrants; he’s mocked a reporter with a disability; he’s called for war and war crimes with an air of one planning a trip to Disneyland; the newly emerging GOP platform is the most hostile to LGBT people than any platform in recent memory; and I’m pretty sure I heard distinct ‘boos’ from the crowd last night at the mention of Syrian refugees.

We’re boo-ing refugees now. Yes, it has come to that.

And yet… the racist overtones of the campaign thus far have been just that–tones. More overt than what we could rightly call an ‘undertone,’ but still, just kind of a vibe, a feeling. An implication of violence and an exulting of that which is distinctly white. But King’s remarks are beyond the pale. (Pale. Yes, pun intended because you’ve gotta laugh so you don’t cry…) This is an outright statement of white supremacy, as vocalized by an elected leader of a free country.

I hear you saying we shouldn’t be surprised… And I guess I’m not. I’m not surprised at the sentiment, because we always knew it was there; and I’m not surprised at his articulation of said sentiment. Because the truth, as they say, will out. Eventually.

What is shocking is that more has not been made of it. That the media storm today has been entirely focused on the unfortunate ‘borrowing’ of Melania’s speech–which was probably written and/or ‘borrowed’ by speech writers, not Melania herself. I’m shocked that there has not been a call for King’s immediate dismissal, and I’m shocked that GOP leaders–especially those running for re-election–are not tripping all over themselves to get to a mic and say “this guy does not speak for us.”

And yet. Crickets. A veritable chorus of them.

In a tense climate that demands every black person, everywhere, must publicly denounce violence against police officers, lest they be taken for murderous anarchists; then it is not too much to ask that GOP leaders renounce this most recent overt display of racist rhetoric from within their party. Whether they are in Cleveland this week, or home “mowing their lawn” and “watching dumpster fires” in silent protest of Trump. We need to hear every elected leader, and every hopeful candidate, step up front and say “this is not us. This is not who we’re going to be.”

Barring that…barring that kind of unified response, then we are about to be at an impasse. The two-party system has long been in a spiral of dysfunction, with more people than ever, in this election, feeling that there is no candidate that truly represents them; that a trip to the polls will be a tedious task of choosing the lesser evil, and not a hopeful display of democracy. That’s a discouraging place in which to be. But if sane, moderate Republicans want to salvage their ‘Grand Old Party” for future elections, now is the time for them to speak up. Now is the time for them to say, “this is not our America. Trump or no Trump, this hate-filled discourse is not going to define us.”

Because, while we were worried about Melania, these guys are camping outside the Convention to “defend Trump” from “leftist thugs.” Yes, those are swastikas you see on their flags. But don’t worry. They’re just hanging out. Protecting their guy.

Will he ask them to leave? Will anyone make a statement that this violent nationalist group does not speak for the party at large?

We can hope so. But I’m afraid I hear the crickets, tuning up for the evening.

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