Rep. Jasmine Crockett erupted at Republicans, calling them a "majority… White" party and accusing them of using a member of Martin Luther King Jr.’s family as a prop to shield themselves from allegations of racism while interrogating the Southern Poverty Law Center's funding of hate groups.
Crockett, who is leaving office next year after a failed Senate bid, lambasted Republicans for expressing outrage at the SPLC while not addressing the "literal elephant in the room" — a reference to Martin Luther King Jr.’s more conservative niece, Alveda King.
Crockett disparaged civil rights activist Alveda King as a right-wing prop while accusing Republicans of trying to trick the public into thinking a "Doctor King" was criticizing the SPLC’s work. King later questioned whether Crockett was calling her a "bastard" of the King name.
"The vast majority on that side of the aisle… are White men. White men are lecturing people of color because the vast majority, actually any semblance of diversity comes from this [Democratic] side of the aisle," Crockett said.
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She said people of color don’t feel welcome in the GOP and "that’s why you have to parade someone who has the name ‘Doctor King’ attached to them so people can be confused."
Notably, GOP Rep. Wesley Hunt, a fellow Black Texan, was on the committee’s dais and pointedly questioned SPLC leader Bryan Fair earlier in the day. Hunt often rebukes talk of race-based partisanship by quipping that he has been "Black my entire life."
Crockett said Republicans were hypocritical in accusing the SPLC of funding hate groups, citing a debunked assertion about President Donald Trump’s comments following the 2017 White supremacist rally in Charlottesville.
She noted Trump had said there were "fine people on both sides," but omitted that he later clarified he was referring to a community group opposing the removal of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s statue, a gathering that occurred before the neo-Nazi violence erupted later that day.
Crockett then claimed people on social media were wondering who the "Doctor King" was who was speaking out against the SPLC as the hearing progressed, and that Republicans were trying to make the public think the historic Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would be on their side.
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Crockett said Republicans would be better served calling the Obama-supporting Martin Luther King III or his sister Bernice King to the hearing — suggesting they understand the civil rights icon’s teachings and positions better than Alveda.
Before her time expired, she accused King and Republicans of "caping" for murdered activist Charlie Kirk — quoting a controversial statement by the Turning Point USA founder about the Civil Rights Act.
She also claimed Republicans hauled Fair and King before the committee because they wanted to distract from their failure to hold a hearing examining associates of deceased financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
When House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, gaveled-out Crockett’s time and passed the floor to Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C., the Republican gave King a chance to respond.
"I am a bit emotional," King said of what Crockett had claimed. "I’m going to watch what I say."
Crockett did not appear to look back at Alveda King and was briefly seen closing her notebook as she prepared to stand up.
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"It seems as though you (Crockett) have suggested that I am bastard to the King family legacy. I am legitimately the daughter of Reverend Alfred Daniel Williams King and Dr. Naomi Ruth Barber King," Alveda King said.
Rev. A.D. King was Martin Luther King Jr.’s brother.
"We are a family who loves God. And I love you, God bless you," King said before yielding back to Fry.
Fry then announced that, off-camera, Crockett had quickly left the room before King could substantively respond to her remarks.
