Rep. Jasmine Crockett delivered an epic clapback to Marjorie Taylor Greene’s insult because Jasmine Crockett is about that life
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett is the kind of sister you’re proud to see get into Congress. She’s a Democrat who represents parts of Dallas, and she’s a lawyer who’s tough, smart and ginsu knife sharp with the tongue. I met her at theGrio Awards and her presence is powerful. You can feel her warrior spirit.
There are lots of great clips of her reading people for filth so whenever she’s on the news, I find myself cheering for her. Thursday brought us another chance to cheer for the good sister from Texas when a C-SPAN hearing started to look like a video from WorldStar.
Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is a crazy person from Northwest Georgia who would love to be Donald Trump’s vice president. She’s kind of like the Queen of America’s Karens, the symbol of the modern, angry white woman who is dragging down this country. This week, Greene was outright rude and inappropriate in attacking Crockett because when you’re MAGA, attacking Black people is good for business. So Greene created a wild scene in a House of Representatives committee hearing that was far crazier than Congressional hearings usually get.
Greene asked, “I’d like to know if any of the Democrats on this committee are employing Judge Merchan’s daughter?” She was referring to Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over Trump’s hush money trial in New York City. His daughter worked at a firm that works with Democratic candidates and has been the subject of attacks from Trump and the right. But all of this was irrelevant to the issue at hand — it was a hearing about holding Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress.
The Democrats were befuddled. There was confused muttering until a voice rose from the din. It was Congresswoman Crockett. She said, “Please tell me what that has to do with Merrick Garland?” She paused. “Do you know what we’re here for?” That line was giving: Are you OK? Are you confused? Are you in the right room?
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The question had a little shade on it, but not too much. It could’ve been ignored. But Karens like Greene never miss a chance to say something nasty.
“I don’t think you know what you’re here for,” Greene replied. A childish retort. You say I smell? Well, I say you smell, so there. But then Greene went too far. “I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading,” she said.
Oh, no, she didn’t. Why did she have to make it about Crockett’s physical appearance? This is what being loud and wrong looks like. Because Greene was wrong — Judge Marchan’s daughter had nothing to do with anything going on in that room — and she was loudly attacking Crockett as if it were Crockett who was wrong. And it was an ad hominem attack. From there you knew it was going to be a food fight.
These are the sorts of microaggressions that we are used to, but we don’t have to accept being treated badly for the sake of decorum. We don’t have to keep the peace in the face of disrespect. Peace without respect is not peace.
Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez jumped in on behalf of Crockett. “That is absolutely unacceptable!” she said. “How dare you attack the physical appearance of another person!” She was speaking in the language of tolerance.
Greene said, “Are your feelings hurt?” She was speaking in the language of “screw your feelings.”
Greene loves to be seen fighting with other members of Congress because it sends a message to her MAGA voters that she’s tough and won’t back down from D.C. types. I bet she also believes that fighting with Black and brown members makes her look good to those MAGA voters in her district.
Ocasio-Cortez followed up with, “Oh girl, baby girl. Don’t even play.” AOC represents the Bronx.
Of course, Greene continued to play in their faces — you know the type. She’s the sort of white person who’ll say something racist and then claim to be the victim of racism. Ocasio-Cortez repeatedly demanded that her words be stricken from the record and that she apologize sincerely. Greene agreed to have her words stricken, but she said, “You will never get an apology out of me.” Trifling.
Later on in the hearing, Crockett found a sly way to hit Greene back. She asked a “hypothetical” question: Would it be acceptable, she said, “to talk about somebody’s bleach blonde, bad-built, butch body?” She was talking back to Greene without directly talking back to Greene. It allowed Crockett to get in a verbal punch while also maintaining her dignity. I mean, she was just asking a question.
Crockett and Ocasio-Cortez have reached one of the highest spaces in American life — they are U.S. congresswomen — and yet here they are defending themselves from the same sort of microaggressions that Black and brown people deal with all the time from the Karens of the world. No matter how high you go, there’s always a white person there to say I still don’t respect you.
Touré is a host and Creative Director at theGrio. He is the host of Masters of the Game on theGrioTV. He is also the host and creator of the docuseries podcast “Being Black: The ’80s” and the animated show “Star Stories with Toure” which you can find at TheGrio.com/starstories. He is also the host of the podcast “Toure Show” and the podcast docuseries “Who Was Prince?” He is the author of eight books including the Prince biography Nothing Compares 2 U and the ebook The Ivy League Counterfeiter.
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