Texas Rep. Al Green isn’t apologizing. He isn’t backing down. And he says the consequences mean nothing.
Just hours after being forcibly removed from Donald Trump’s State of the Union for holding a sign declaring “Black people are not apes,” Green went on CSPAN and made one thing crystal clear: he did it on purpose — and he would do it again.
“As you know, the president has depicted a former president and first lady as apes,” Green said. “The behavior has been declared racist by a good many people, but I don’t think the president has really received the message that it’s unacceptable.”
So, Green delivered it himself.
“Tonight, I wanted him to have a person confront him and let him know that Black people aren’t apes,” he said. “Black people are not going to tolerate this kind of behavior.”
Green described Trump as someone who “assumes that he is beyond the law,” who ignores separation of powers, dismisses due process, and acts as though “if he says it, it is right.”
“If we allow this to continue, he is shredding the Constitution,” Green warned.
When asked whether he was standing alone, Green acknowledged others privately agree — but aren’t ready to act publicly. “Sometimes,” he said, “it is on some issues better to stand alone than not stand at all.”
And then he invoked history.
“Dr. King went to jail for taking a stand. Rosa Parks went to jail for taking a stand,” Green said. “There are times when you have to confront him face to face.”
As for being ejected — for the second year in a row?
“The consequences were of no consequence to me,” he said. “I would not allow the consequences to prevent me from doing what I believe is a righteous thing to do.”
Green says Trump needed to see the message “up close.”
Whether others follow his lead remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: Al Green has made it clear he’d rather be escorted out standing tall than sit quietly while, in his words, the Constitution is being shredded.