Did tea partiers really call John Lewis the n-word?
John Lewis being arrested during the 1960s. Now a congressmen, Lewis was known for putting himself in the line of fire as a practitioner of non-violent civil disobedience.
I tweeted yesterday about the epithets spewed upon Democratic congressmen, including Atlanta’s John Lewis, by tea party protesters on Capitol Hill yesterday.
Two of my conservative Facebook friends raised the valid question of sourcing: Who actually saw the verbal attacks and attempted intimidation of members of Congress?
Fair enough. Here are some of the claims and some of the evidence behind them:
• Rep. Andre Carson and Rep. John Lewis both said yesterday that while they walked from the Capitol, they heard members of the mob yell the n-word at them — as in “kill the bill, [n-word]!” According to McClatchy, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, who was behind them says, said he heard that as well. So do staffers. The folks who put the following video up claim you can hear the n-word. I couldn’t say for sure, but something close to that word can be heard a couple of times around 11 or 12 seconds in — right after, ahem, the camera passes over the guy with the Confederate bandanna. Read more
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