At the request of far right-wing, anti-gay Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King, hundreds of conservative, "Tea Party" agitators are flooding Capitol Hill. The movement is showing its true colors and racial and homophobic epithets are being thrown at members of Congress, The Hill reports.
"Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.) claimed Saturday that healthcare
protesters at the
Capitol directed racial epithets at Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) as he walked
outside. Carson, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus
along with Lewis, told The Hill that protesters called Lewis
the N-word. Tea Party protesters held a rally outside the Capitol
on Saturday, which included speeches by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.)
and actor Jon Voight, and then proceeded into the halls to lobby
members at the 11th hour."
The scene must have been eerily familiar to John Lewis, who was one of
the student leaders of the Civil Rights Movement
in the 1960s. Lewis was beaten and tear gassed during the infamous
"Bloody Sunday" Selma too Montgomery march.
A staffer for Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) tells The Huffington Post another member of the Congressional Black Caucus, Missouri's Emanuel
Cleaver, was spat on by protesters. "It was absolutely shocking to me,"
Clyburn tells the Huffington Post.
"I led the
first demonstrations in South Carolina, the sit ins... And quite frankly
I heard some things today I have not heard since that day. I heard
people saying things that I have not heard since March 15, 1960 when I
was marching to try and get off the back of the bus."
And the most prominent openly gay member of Congress was also singled out for special attention, reports say.
"Rep. Barney Frank got an uglier version of the treatment. Just after
Frank rounded a corner to leave the [Longworth House Office Bldg], an older protestor yelled
"Barney, you faggot." The surrounding crowd of protestors then erupted
in laughter. At one point, Capitol police officer threatened to
throw a group of protestors out of the building but that only seemed to
inflame them more; and apparently none were ejected."
Protesters inside a Congressional building called a member "faggot" and were not ejected?
Thanks: @KDavis and @Basseyworld