During a House hearing last week, Representative Al Green stretched his allotted five minutes into one of the most charged moments of the session, carefully laying out the hallmarks of racism on the record, presenting video evidence of past conduct by Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, and standing firm when Mullin attempted to interrupt him.
The Texas Democrat began his five-minute line of questioning in the Homeland Security Committee hearing by asserting his authority on the issue—not through academic study, but through personal experience.
“In my lifetime I went to the back door to get my food, I drank from filthy colored water fountains. I sat in the back of the bus, in the balcony of the movie when the seat was available,” the 78-year-old congressman recalled.
Then, with photographs in hand, he started listing the traits associated with racism—portraying people of color as apes, taking offense at peaceful demonstrations—without ever directly labeling Mullin a racist. Mullin could hardly endure it.
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“Are you calling me a racist?” Mullin interrupted.
Green didn’t miss a beat.
“Reclaiming my time. Tell him to stop talking.”
The chamber erupted. Mullin kept talking over Green, insisting he would not permit anyone to call him a racist. “No one will call me a racist. I’m Cherokee too…”
The chair struggled to restore order, warning Green against personally disparaging the secretary. But Green had more video ready to go.
He played clips showing Mullin physically advancing toward a peaceful protester during the State of the Union, and in a second recording, Mullin’s now-infamous threat at a Senate hearing: “You want to run your mouth — we can be two consenting adults. We can finish it here. Let’s stand your butt up.”
Green let the footage speak for itself before delivering his assessment.
“I do not believe that he is qualified because he doesn’t have the temperament to deal with people in a respectful way.”
When Mullin sneered that Green’s constituents had “voted him out” in a recent Democratic primary, Green didn’t flinch. He concluded exactly where he had begun.
“I peacefully protested. I would do it again … because I know the history of apes and how they have been used to demean people of color.”
The chairman called time. Green had said all that he had come to say.
Watch the full clip here.
