U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a Democrat from New York, is responding to an attack earlier Thursday from Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), which many are calling racist. Congressman Bowman called Greene’s words “incredibly dangerous and incredibly reckless,” suggested she is a white supremacist, and likened her actions to “one of the reasons why Emmett Till was killed.”
“Marjorie Taylor Greene at her press conference this morning said something incredibly dangerous and incredibly reckless about me, talking about my demeanor as being ‘aggressive’ and saying that she feels ‘intimidated’ by me,” Congressman Bowman told reporters Thursday afternoon. “Unfortunately, this country has a history of characterizing Black men who are outspoken, who stand their ground, and who push back as being threatening or intimidating.”
Bowman declared Greene was “not even using a dog whistle,” but “a bullhorn to put a target on my back to the people that she refers to as MAGA people out there who might want to cause harm.”
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On Thursday, Greene tried to build a case against Bowman, telling reporters that at a recent New York City protest rally against Donald Trump, the New York Democratic lawmaker was “shouting at the top of his lungs, cursing, calling me a horrible – calling me a white supremacist, which I take great offense to. That is like calling a person of color the N word which should never happen. Calling me a white supremacist is equal to that and that is wrong.”
After having attempted to paint the New York Democratic Congressman as dangerous, Greene declared, “I think there’s a lot of concern about Jamaal Bowman, so and I am concerned about, I feel threatened by him. He not only let a mob there, but his boisterous lies.”
Shen concluded her remarks by saying, “I am very concerned about Jamaal Bowman, and he’s someone that people should watch.”
Congressman Bowman declared, ” This is the same reason why Mike Brown was killed. This is one of the reasons why Emmett Till was killed. And throughout history Black men have continued to be characterized as aggressive because one because of our skin color, but two because we happen to be outspoken and passionate about certain issues.”
“It’s reckless and dangerous what she said, Okay, characterizing me in my interaction with her yesterday. I never invaded her personal space. I was laughing and gregarious the entire time. How was that intimidating? What was intimidating about that? So she goes to a press conference today and say that she’s intimidated by me and my mannerisms are aggressive. Anyone who’s interacted with me, anyone knows me, even reported this, you know, I’m middle school principal energy, always loving and engaging and friendly, except when kids filled in our streets. Everyone should be outraged about that.”
“But she knows what she’s doing when she does that,” Bowman added. “And unfortunately white supremacists historically, this is what they do. They try to dehumanize black people, black skin and black humanity so that they could be you know, more likely to be targeted for harm.”
As NCRM reported earlier, Congresswoman Greene has a history of racism.
Watch Bowman’s and Greene’s remarks below or at this link.