Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., made a series of racially charged comments about opponents of President Barack Obama's policies in a New Nation of Islam program,
BuzzFeed reported.
BuzzFeed included a video in its story. A voice, identified as that of Thompson's, can be heard speaking on the
Black Muslim program. "I've been in Washington. I saw three presidents now. I never saw George Bush treated like this. I never saw Bill Clinton treated like this with such disrespect," said Thompson.
"That [Senate Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell would have the audacity to tell the president of the United States — not the chief executive, but the commander-in-chief — that, 'I don't care what you come up with we're going to be against it.' Now if that's not a racist statement I don't know what is."
He also charged Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant with opposing Medicaid expansion through the Affordable Care Act "just because a black man created it."
He said that President George W. Bush's Medicare
prescription drug plan did not generate the kind of opposition that greeted Obamacare. But "when a black man comes with an idea [for healthcare] there's something wrong with it. Again, it's race creeping into the picture."
In Thompson's view, the kind of anti-government sentiment represented by Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy developed only since Obama came into office. "Now all of a sudden, government is the worst thing in the world since a black man became president."
In commenting on affirmative action, Thompson reportedly referred to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as an "Uncle Tom" saying "it's almost to the point saying this man doesn't like black people, he doesn't like being black," according to BuzzFeed.
Thompson, who is in his eleventh term, is the
only Democrat in the Mississippi congressional delegation, according to his website. He is the ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.