Jackson Lee digs in after controversy over kneeling
Lawmaker joins NFL players protesting Trump’s comments
WASHINGTON — Houston Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee dug in Tuesday after sparking controversy and becoming a social media sensation the night before for taking a knee on the House floor “in honor of the First Amendment.”
Her action came after dozens of NFL players — and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones — kneeled or locked arms in protest of President Donald Trump.
Jackson Lee said she also was incensed by the president’s remarks calling for the firing of any “son of a bitch” who knelt during the national anthem. She called it an affront to the “dignity and respect” of the players’ mothers, many of whom are African-American.
“You tell me which of these children’s mothers are a ‘son of a B,’ ” she said in an impassioned floor speech Monday. “That is racism. You cannot deny it, you cannot run from it. I kneel in honor of them.”
She took to the floor again Tuesday to pound Trump’s handling of aid to Puerto Rico in the wake of massive hurricane damage. While Trump tweeted more than a dozen times about the NFL players, she noted, the response to Puerto Rico has been “a disgrace.”
Houston Democrat Al Green also went to the floor Tuesday to criticize Trump’s comments, which he called “unbecoming.”
“Calling people SOBs, and we know what a B is. It’s a dog,” Green said. He also vowed to force a vote next week to impeach the president.
Following Jackson Lee’s gesture, Wisconsin Democrat Mark Pocan also knelt at the end of a speech Tuesday defending the NFL players. “I think today, tak-
ing a knee is becoming a broader sign of patriotism and respect for our country,” Pocan said.
In an interview later in the day, Jackson Lee defended kneeling, which she called a respectful form of protest, as opposed to merely staying seated.
“I kneel in front of the flag on the House floor,” she had said in her speech Monday. “I kneel in honor of the First Amendment. I kneel because the flag is a symbol for freedom. I kneel because I stand against racism. I kneel because I will stand with these young men, and I will stand with our soldiers and I’ll stand with America, because I kneel.”
C-SPAN video of her gesture soon circulated widely on social media.
Jackson Lee said her floor protest was not planned. “I didn’t know I was going to do it,” she said. “But I felt that I needed to show my empathy for these young men, many of them I know.”
The incident followed the national firestorm from Trump’s criticism of NFL players who kneel during the national anthem. On Twitter and in a rally in Alabama Friday night, he suggested that the protesting players should be “fired.”
Jackson Lee said Trump should not have interjected himself into the player protests. “A peaceful protest that does not engage in destruction of the flag or the national anthem does not even call for comment,” she said. “That’s our right to do that, and you cannot equate that with disrespect for the military or disrespect for the flag. You call that using that platform to bring attention to the pain and hurt of many others.”
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel released a statement Tuesday supporting Trump: “There is free speech,” she said. “People have the right to do whatever they want from a free speech capacity. But I have the right and the president has to right to say, I disagree with how you’re doing it. This isn’t the right venue.”
Jackson Lee, in comments leading up to her protest on the House floor, also said Trump’s comments were unnecessarily provocative.
“I simply refuse to accept that as a standard of leadership for the highest office in the world,” she said. “Even if you never understand it, sir, if you never understand it, if you think you’re playing to your base, if you’re not a unifier, we will continue to stand in the gap, and racism is going to be under our foot. And you know what else it’s going to be? It’s going to be under our knee.”