Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., was escorted off the floor of the House of Representatives this morning after he shed his suit jacket and pulled up the hood of the hoodie he was wearing underneath it. Here's a link to the CSPAN video.
"Just because someone wears a hoodie, does not make them a hoodlum," he said, as Rep. Gregg Harper, R-Miss., pounded the gavel and warned that "the member is no longer recognized."
Rush, a black congressman friom Chicago, was protesting the investigation of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin's death. Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee held a forum on racial profiling Tuesday that featured as guests the teen's parents.
Trayvon was shot to death last month while serving out a school suspension in the central Florida city of Sanford, where his father's girlfriend lives. A neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman, called police to say he saw someone in a hooded sweatshirt who looked high on drugs and was suspicious because he walked too slowly in the rain.
Tuesday's forum was sponsored by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. No Republicans participated. The forum didn't examine any particular legislation, but it did give nearly 20 members of Congress an opportunity to focus on the role of the federal government in addressing racial profiling and prosecuting hate crimes.
After Rush left the floor of the House, Harper reminded members of Clause 5 of rule 17 on house decorum: No hats. "The donning of a hood is not consistent with this rule," he said.
|
|

The difference between a "Prejudice" and a "Conviction" is that you can explain a "Conviction" without losing your cool.
Posted by: Narvick | April 01, 2012 at 04:03 PM
Prejudice is a malignant opinion devoid of intellect and sustained by blind, unremitting hate.
Tom Nass
5th Marine Division - WWII
Posted by: Narvick | April 01, 2012 at 02:11 PM
Trying to reason the prejudice out of someone is like trying to convince a corpse that physical therapy is the only solution to its problem.
Tom Nass
5th Marine Division - WWII
Posted by: Narvick | April 01, 2012 at 02:05 PM
I guess Gregg Harper's (R- Miss.) white hood has to stay in the trunk of his car for now.
Posted by: dollared | March 28, 2012 at 01:28 PM