Rep. Chip Roy says he has no regrets in the face of people “freaking out” after he invoked “old sayings in Texas” about lynching during a hearing on violence against Asian Americans.
The Texas Republican released a statement on Thursday after getting criticized by the Left for his opening statement, which came just two days after Atlanta-area spa shootings led to the death of eight people, including six Asian women.
“Apparently some folks are freaking out that I used an old expression about finding all the rope in Texas and a tall oak tree about carrying out justice against bad guys,” Roy said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “I meant it. We need more justice and less thought policing. We need to stop evil doers, such as those who carried out the attack in Atlanta this week, or cartels abusing little children, or those who kill our cops on the streets. We should restore order by tamping out evil actors, not turn America into an authoritarian state like the Chinese Communists who seek to destroy us. No apologies.”
The comments that drew backlash came earlier in the day during a hearing on violence against Asian Americans held by the House Judiciary Committee.
“The victims of race-based violence and their families deserve justice,” Roy said, referencing the Tuesday shootings in Georgia. “I would also suggest that the victims of cartels moving illegal aliens deserve justice. The American citizens in South Texas that are getting absolutely decimated by what’s happening at our southern border deserve justice. The victims of rioting and looting in the street last [summer], businesses burned, closed, deserve justice. We believe in justice. There’s old sayings in Texas about, you know, find all the rope in Texas and get a tall oak tree. We take justice very seriously.”
CHIP ROY DEMANDS AOC APOLOGIZE TO CRUZ OR FACE ‘ALTERNATIVE MEANS’ OF CONDEMNATION
“My concern about this hearing is that it seems to want to venture into the policing of rhetoric in a free society — free speech — and away from the rule of law and taking out bad guys,” Roy also said.
The GOP lawmaker’s opening statement drew condemnation from Democrats and liberals.
“The incidents I mentioned in my opening statement — being spat at, slapped in the face, lit on fire, slashed with a box cutter, and shoved violently to the ground, as the video showed — that’s not speech,” said Rep. Steve Cohen, a Tennessee Democrat.
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) responds to Rep. Chip Roy’s (R-TX) comments that anti-Asian discrimination hearing is about “policing” free speech:
“Being spat at, slapped in the face, lit on fire, slashed with a box cutter, and shoved violently to the ground … that’s not speech.” pic.twitter.com/g9aLcYdcDM
— The Recount (@therecount) March 18, 2021
“Your president and your party and your colleagues can talk about issues with any other country that you want, but you don’t have to do it by putting a bull’s eye on the back of Asian Americans across this country, on our grandparents, on our kids,” Meng said at the hearing. “This hearing was to address the hurt and pain of our community and to find solutions, and we will not let you take our voice away from us.”
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Max Burns, a communications official for New York state Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou, said on Twitter, “Chip Roy, speaking at a House hearing on *hate crimes*, wistfully recalling the old days of Texas lynchings as a great and effective [form] of justice.”
“One of the worst lynching incidents in our history was perpetrated against the Chinese community of Los Angeles when some 20 people were killed and hanged by an angry white mob,” Star Trek actor George Takei said on Twitter. “This language is unacceptable, and Chip Roy is an ignorant inciter.”
