Racists should not chair Congressional Committees—Remove Rep. King now

Rep. Steve King's blatant and dangerous racism cannot be tolerated. Despite his outrageous statements, King is still the Chair of the House Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice—which oversees constitutional rights, Federal civil rights, ethics in government, and more.

Speaker Paul Ryan tried to distance himself from King's statement with light criticism. But critiques are not enough.

King is in no way fit to chair the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice—or any other committee.

This weekend, Rep. Steve King of Iowa tweeted his support for a Dutch nationalist politician saying, "We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies."

This statement is the latest of King's many racist comments—and he's even doubled down on the statement saying, "I meant exactly what I said." In the same interview, he went further and said, "If we care about our stock, our country, our culture, our civilization—we need to have enough babies to replace ourselves and hopefully grow."

Allowing Rep. King to continue to chair the committee further normalizes this terrible brand of racism and hatred. Former KKK leader David Duke and Richard Spencer, another white prominent supremacist, both celebrated and praised King's comment.

And as attacks on Muslim, immigrant communities, and communities of color escalate in the wake of Donald Trump's toxic presidential campaign and subsequent Executive Orders, we cannot allow racism and white supremacism to be further normalized.

Republican leaders have the ability to remove King from this committee and must do so immediately and send the message that racism and hatred will not be tolerated and rewarded by members of Congress. They must do so immediately.