‘Who in the hell do you think you are?’
(Joshua Paladino, Liberty Headlines) Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. shouted at Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., on Wednesday during a House Judiciary Committee meeting to debate and vote on police reform legislation.
“Who in the hell do you think you are?”
FIERY: Rep. Cedric Richmond and Rep. Matt Gaetz spar during House debate pic.twitter.com/oIpBFfGa2N
— The Hill (@thehill) June 18, 2020
Gaetz pushed back after Richmond made vague accusations of racism that seemed to be directed toward his GOP colleagues on the committee, PJ Media reported.
“As a black male who went to the fifth best public high school in the country, who was a victim of excessive force, who has a black son, who has worries that you all don’t [have], and to my colleagues—especially the ones that keep introducing amendments that are a tangent and a distraction from what we’re talking about—you all are white males,” Richmond said.
He called out the “white” legislators for introducing amendments to investigate Antifa, a radical leftist organization that shares goals with Black Lives Matter, such as dismantling the police, ending the two-parent family and overthrowing capitalism and the Western rule of law.
The two groups also appear to converge in many of their funding sources, including support from hostile foreign nations and globalist left-wing mega-donors who have openly sought to sow chaos in the lead-up to the November election.
Richmond insisted these were “side issues,” even though the race-riots and other acts of violence coordinated by the radical groups in the last month have arguably done more damage to innocent black lives than cops did the entire year.
“I appreciate your passion,” Gaetz said to Richmond. “Are you suggesting that you’re certain that none of us have non-white children? Because you reflect on your black son, and you said none of us could understand.”
Richmond, who recently served as chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, continued by suggesting that whites—even white parents with nonwhite children—had little stake in the current debate.
He insinuated that the bond between minorities and Democrats pushing defund law enforcement was even greater than that between parent and child.
“Matt, Matt. Stop,” Richmond said, cutting off Gaetz.
“I’m not about to get sidetracked about the color of our children,” he continued. “It is not about the color of your kids. It is about black males, black people in the streets that are getting killed, and if one of them happens to be your kid, I’m concerned about him, too—and clearly, I’m more concerned about him than you are.”
“You’re claiming you have more concern for my family than I do?” Gaetz said. “Who in the hell do you think you are?”
“If the shoe fits,” Richmond said.
“You should take those words down. I know you care about your family and love your family, so do we, dammit,” Gaetz said.
“Was that a nerve?” Richmond said.