Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) tore apart Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-Ga.) over her “reckless and dangerous” characterization of their shouting match on the Capitol steps on Wednesday. (You can check out his response below).
Bowman called out the Republican for referring to his behavior as “aggressive” and claimed she felt “threatened by him.”
“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,” said Bowman, who referred to the killings of Emmett Till and Michael Brown as he spoke to reporters Thursday.
“So she’s not even using a dog whistle, she’s using a bullhorn to put a target on my back to the people she refers to as MAGA people out there who might want to cause harm.”
The exchange followed heckling on the Capitol steps from Bowman and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) directed at Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of fraud and money laundering last week.
“She ain’t worth it, bro,” Ocasio-Cortez told Bowman after words flew between him and Greene.
Greene, in comments to reporters on Thursday, said Bowman called her a white supremacist and compared hearing the word to a “great offense.”
“That is like calling a person of color the N-word, which should never happen,” she said, “Calling me a white supremacist is equal to that and that is wrong.”
Bowman, who continued to take aim at Greene’s characterization of him, said Black men have been painted as aggressive due to their skin color and because of their passion for a number of issues.
“It’s reckless and dangerous what she said,” said Bowman.
“And unfortunately, white supremacists – historically – this is what they do. They try to dehumanize Black people, Black skin and the Black humanity so that they can be more likely to be targeted for harm.”