Rep. Steve King of Iowa told
Newsmax TV Thursday that the residents in riot-torn Ferguson, Mo., aren't being racially profiled by police because they're nearly all African-American.
"This idea of no racial profiling — I've seen the video," the Republican congressman told "America's Forum" host J.D. Hayworth. "It looks to me like you don't need to bother with that particular factor because they all appear to be of a single origin — I should say, a continental origin. There's hyperintensity on that. I just reject race-based politics, identity politics. I think we're all God's children and we all should be held to the same standard and the same level of behavior."
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King stressed that he rejects race-based and identity politics of all kinds, and told Newsmax TV
that it was a "misstep" for Attorney General Eric Holder and the Obama administration to become involved in investigating the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
"We watch our president. He's willing to make race out of any issue, whether it has to do with race or not," King said.
Instead, he said, President Barack Obama needs to stand up and order a stop to the looting and violence that raged on since a
police officer shot the unarmed teenager last Saturday after the teen reportedly got into an altercation with the officer after he had stopped Brown and another man as they were walking along a street.
Race has been a focal point in the incident involving Brown, an African-American, and the police officer, who is reportedly white.
"All we need is the president to step up and say 'shut down all of that rioting and all of that violence and all of the looting that's going on,'" said King, insisting that Obama should tell people in Ferguson, a predominantly black suburb of St. Louis, to "square up, straighten up, clean up your community, take care of it, and you can trust this administration to see to it that justice is served."
Obama should "simply be the moral leader," said King, "and I'm not hearing that happen."
The Congressional Black Caucus has also voiced its concerns, with Missouri Democratic Rep. Lacy Clay, a caucus member, saying he is concerned about racial profiling in the community.
And instead of people like the
Rev. Al Sharpton, said King, Ferguson "needs more Martin Luther Kings."
Sharpton arrived in St. Louis on Tuesday and walked arm-in-arm with Brown's family members, their lawyer, and clergy members before making a speech at the city's historic Old Courthouse.
"Regardless of what he seems to say, he seems to foment anger and violence," said King.
Hayworth pointed out that a gun store and a tattoo parlor have not been vandalized by protesters, as they had protection teams in place, which King said is what he'd do if he owned a business in the violence-stricken neighborhood.
"It's pretty close to anarchy there and that's what you have to do when you get pretty close to anarchy," said King. "They're not going to loot a gun store if there's somebody in there with one. I'm not sure why they are not looting the tattoo parlor. If I had a building in that neighborhood, I would be there guarding it."
King also discussed the situation at the southern border, saying that he believes the Obama administration has decided to "implement a very broad administrative amnesty" that would fall on local and state taxpayers.
He told of his visit to the border with fellow Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., including saying he shot video of a pregnant woman coming across the Rio Grande illegally. She surrendered to the Border Patrol and got processed, receiving a transfer slip to allow her to travel in the United States and have her baby here "and become an American citizen before she gets a hearing. That's the process. We're escorting people into the United States by plane or by bus."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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