Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., defended Parkland survivor and gun control advocate Emma Gonzalez Tuesday for wearing a patch with the Cuban flag on her jacket during her speech at the March for Our Lives protest in Washington D.C.
“Many #Miami homes also have Cuban flags @SteveKingIA. That doesn’t equal support 4 Castro. Folks should learn about our community before criticizing a high school student,” Ros-Lehtinen said on Twitter.
Many #Miami homes also have Cuban flags, @SteveKingIA. That doesn’t equal support 4 Castro. Folks should learn about our community before criticizing a high school student
— Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (@RosLehtinen) March 27, 2018
Ros-Lehtinen’s defense of Gonzalez comes a day after Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, and others have tied Gonzalez to communist Cuba for wearing the flag patch.
“This is how you look when you claim Cuban heritage yet don’t speak Spanish and ignore the fact that your ancestors fled the island when the dictatorship turned Cuba into a prison camp, after removing all weapons from its citizen; hence their right to self defense,” King posted with a photo of Gonzalez during her speech.
Ros-Lehtinen said Gonzalez’s father and grandfather came from Cuba and are proud of their heritage.
“I spoke to Jose Gonzalez who explained that @Emma4Change is proud of her dad and abuela’s #Cuban heritage and in no way was it a sign of support for the #Castro dictatorship,” she tweeted.
I spoke to Jose Gonzalez who explained that @Emma4Change is proud of her dad and abuela’s #Cuban heritage and in no way was it a sign of support for the #Castro dictatorship
— Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (@RosLehtinen) March 27, 2018
Since the Parkland shooting, Gonzalez has emerged as one of the shooting survivors’ staunchest advocates of gun control, making numerous national media appearances. Her speech at the March for Our Lives protest on Saturday made national headlines once again as she stood silent on stage marking the six minutes and 20 seconds that the shooting at her high school lasted.
