Senator Josh Hawley needs to brush up on history. His comments Tuesday on the Senator floor show that he apparently doesn’t remember some of the most momentous events of our past, especially when it comes to slavery and racism.
The Missouri Republican spoke against confirming President Joe Biden’s nominee to run the Office of Personnel Management, Kiran Ahuja. The New York Times writes, “The unified Republican objections centered on Ms. Ahuja’s remarks last year, when she ran a Seattle-based philanthropic organization, following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.”
Hawley found a way to invoke GOP talking points against critical race theory during his speech:
“Critical race theory is an ideology that says the United States is rotten to its core. The leaders of this movement think our society is defined by white supremacy. They think our leaders are complicit at best. They think all Americans are either oppressors or oppressed.”
He went on to say, “President Biden is nominating for federal office individuals who do not share a view of America as a good and decent place.” In other words, if you believe racism exists and has existed since the founding of this country, you don’t love your country.
Hawley was quickly schooled on Twitter.
Josh Hawley represents a state that was literally created as a slave state as a result of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 https://t.co/MBeYV6wGnc
— Michael Li 李之樸 (@mcpli) June 23, 2021
Josh Hawley's ignorance about American history rivals Marjorie Taylor Greene's ignorance about the Holocaust. https://t.co/F8dZTTlM2x
— Charles Campisi (@1813Doncarlo) June 23, 2021
Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank writes:
The irony, of course, is that Republicans are now proving that systemic racism exists — and they, along with Fox News, are the primary offenders. With their united stand against the voting-rights bill and their united votes against Ahuja on the bogus justification of critical race theory, they’re the ones reducing Americans “to their racial identity alone,” as Hawley put it. The Proud Boys who attacked the Capitol must be filled with pride anew.
A country that contained in the constitution, the institution of slavery, was indeed founded in racism. It resulted in a civil war which Josh Hawley seems to want to fight again. https://t.co/UNVI3hRAoE
— Gordon McClendon🌊🌊🌊🌊 (@GordonMcClendon) June 22, 2021
Of course this country was founded on racism. Has Josh Hawley read the Constitution, or just three-fifths of it? https://t.co/zebzpEJPhE
— Santiago Melli-Huber (he/él) (@SantiagoReports) June 23, 2021