Rep. Steve King declined to give a definitive answer about whether white societies are “superior” to those that are nonwhite.
King, R-Iowa, was asked the question by 63-year-old Mary Lavelle, a constituent, in northern Iowa this week, according to the New York Times.
“I don’t have an answer for that. That’s so hypothetical,” King told her. “I’ll say this, America is not a white society — it has never been a completely white society. We came here and joined the Native Americans.”
“I’ve long said that a baby can be lifted out of a cradle anywhere in the world and brought into any home in America, whatever the color of the folks in that household, and they can be raised to be American as any other. And I believe that every one of us, every one of us, is created in God’s image,” he said.
Lavelle said the question was prompted by anti-immigrant language used in the manifesto of the New Zealand suspect accused of killing 50 people in mosque attacks last week.
Republicans removed King from his committee assignments earlier this year after he questioned why the phrase “white supremacy” had become offensive. Some Republicans went as far as calling for his resignation from Congress, but King refused to step down and insisted his comments were mischaracterized.
