Democratic Rep. Donald Norcross of New Jersey appears to have called Virginia Republican Bob Good a “racist” for questioning the U.S. Education Secretary on critical race theory during an Education and Labor Committee hearing on Thursday.
In a video posted to Good’s Twitter account, Norcross interjects in the middle of the congressional hearing and dubs Good a “racist.” Good ignored the comments in the video and continued to discuss Virginia’s Loudoun County Public School district board meeting which resulted in the arrest of at least two parents who refused to leave a public board meeting.
Watch:
This week, parents in Loudoun County had the police called to arrest them for speaking out against Critical Race Theory.
Today in a congressional hearing I was called “RACIST” for defending Virginia’s parents
We must stand strong against Critical Race Theory! pic.twitter.com/dQCzOqpds8
— Congressman Bob Good (@RepBobGood) June 24, 2021
Good: You can just see this week in Virginia’s Loudoun County, one of the largest counties in Virginia, the board of education there — rather than face parental criticism — they shut down public comment, they adjourned the meeting, and they actually …
Norcross: Racist!
Good: Called the police to come in and arrest parents who had gathered to express their grievances with government and local school officials. I hope that you will not nationalize a culture war that started in Virginia and bankrupt critical race theory with taxpayer dollars.
Republicans on the Education and Labor Committee signed a letter urging Norcross to publicly apologize to Good for his outburst. According to the letter, Chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA) called Norcross’s comments “inappropriate” and “out of order.”
“We are extremely concerned that there was no apology made during the hearing from the comment and that it was not withdrawn as is customary when Members engage in unparliamentary personalities and behavior beneath the dignity of this Committee,” the letter reads.
“Evidence strongly suggests that Rep. Donald Norcross was the Member who slandered Rep. Good, and we expect that Rep. Norcross will abide by the rules of the Committee and House of Representatives, along with his good conscience, and apologize to Rep. Good publicly,” the letter continues. “It is our hope that [Chairman Scott] will work with him to ensure that occurs and that we can move forward with our work in a bipartisan and professional manner.”
Republicans and Democrats have become increasingly divided on the issue of critical race theory. Republicans argue that the ideology portrays a false narrative of American history and places blame on young, white students for the sins of white slaveholders. Democrats argue that the theory is harmless and provides a more open forum for discussing difficult subjects such as race and gender.
Democratic politicians are increasingly ignoring the problems posed by critical race theory, some even claim that it does not exist. Virginia’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe called critical race theory a “right-wing conspiracy” that was “totally made up” by Republicans.
Virginia, which Chairman Scott and Good represent, has become the apex of the fight against critical race theory. The Loudoun County Public School district has faced intense pushback from parents of all political ideology for peddling critical race theory — an allegation that the district vehemently denies.