The 164 House Republicans Were Probably Reelected

They voted against condemning racism

They would not agree that racism is wrong

There were only fourteen Republicans in the United States House of Representatives who voted to condemn racism against Asian Americans. The resolution by Congresswoman Grace Meng (D-NY) had simply asked her House colleagues to agree that racism against Asian Americans because of the coronavirus was wrong.

The simple resolution was not a law and did not require much. The fourteen Republicans who voted with the Democrats were the brave ones who dared to condemn racism rather than to bow to Donald Trump. The 164 Republican House members who voted no on the resolution declined to agree that racism is wrong.

Since Trump began to call the coronavirus names related to China, Asian Americans have seen a big increase in hate crimes and racist rants against them. Some other political leaders have joined in by using the same words.

One Republican Congressman who voted against the resolution and would not condemn racism against Asian Americans told a constituent that he is definitely not racist. He said he opposed the resolution because he thought it was a political attack on Trump for his words.

Presumably, it did not matter to voters that their member of Congress refused to condemn racism. They probably all got reelected (although it has not been checked on each individual House member).

Racism is wrong, but the general public and elected officials sometimes just do not get it. They are unwilling to condemn racism when they have the chance.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated at the time that she expected that it would have been a unanimous vote to condemn the racism. The 164 Republicans voted to protect Trump’s image rather than to say racism is wrong.

It is a sad commentary when these Republican members of Congress will vote against a simple measure to condemn racism aimed at a segment of the minority population. These are their fellow American citizens, even some of their constituents.

They voted to support Trump in his racist remarks rather than to vote against racism. Trump had some strange hold over them.