Disregarding President Donald Trump’s denials of having made a racist comment during a White House meeting last week, Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and four other Democratic lawmakers have announced plans to boycott his first State of the Union address on January 30.
“I’m here on Martin luther King Jr. Day to say I will not be going to the State of the Union,” Jayapal said in a video posted on social media on Monday, adding: “I think it is absolutely unacceptable to see the racism and the hatred coming out the White House in a way in which this president is fueling the flames of divisiveness across our country.”
The first-ever Indian-American woman to be elected to US Congress, Jayapal joins veteran African-American Congressman John lewis and three other Democratic lawmakers — Frederica Wilson, Earl Blumenauer and Maxine Walters — in announcing plans to skip the President’s annual address to a joint session of Congress.
Jayapal from Seattle made the announcement a day after Trump vehemently denied having made the hateful comment attributed to him by Democratic Senator Dick Durbin at a White House meeting last week, asserting: “No, no, I’m not a racist. I’m the least racist person you have ever interviewed, that I can tell you.” With Durbin sticking to his assertion that Trump called Haiti, El Salvador and some African nations as “shithole nations” at the meeting, Trump slammed him on Monday, tweeting: “Senator Dicky Durbin totally misrepresented what was said at the DACA meeting. Deals can’t get made when there is no trust! Durbin blew DACA and is hurting our Military.”
Jayapal was quoted by The Hill newspaper as saying that the lawmakers boycotting Trump’s event will host their own State of the Union to “talk about our opposition to these racist policies that are being put out of the White House and to make sure we put out our own aggressive vision of what our America looks like as we take it back”.
Other Democratic lawmakers are considering different forms of protest at the State of the Union event.