Iowa Rep. Sen. Steve King posted a "meme" on his campaign Facebook page in which he makes fun of Parkland shooting survivor Emma Gonzales. The joke was aimed at the fact that Gonzales wore a Cuban flag patch when speaking at the March For Life rally on Saturday. He points out that Gonzales's grandparents fled Cuba after that dictatorship took away their guns and placed them under a totalitarian regime. Fellow survivor and activist David Hogg has asked Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to comment on the situation as Rubio's parents fled Cuba as well. King is not new to the arena of controversial statements on this mass shooting and other events over the years such as hanging a confederate flag in his office without claiming "southern heritage" as he is from the North.
While it is fine to disagree with Gonzales's statements made on Friday, it was not appropriate for an adult senator to target a teenager. King also has attacked her after knowing no prior knowledge to the situation. There are many other reasons that Gonzales would wear the patch other than she supports the Cuban dictatorship. While King's opinions are valid, a "meme" is not the way to address them. This is similar to the "revolutions" of the early 1960s in which children began to break away from adult America and express very different views in the midst of the Second Red Scare.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/26/politics/steve-king-facebook-post-emma-gonzalez/
I find it highly ironic that this man would come after an activist because of her heritage after scandalously honoring the very heritage his state fought a war against; that isn't even mentioning the fact that he just assumed her family's situation and reasons for leaving without presumably speaking to her, her relatives, or a representative portion of Cuban refugees.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the comment above, that is ridiculous that he is ridiculing them in such a way, especially after the circumstances.
ReplyDeleteme too this, is ridiculous
DeleteWhy is it that these people have nothing better to do and are so fearful of young people doing more than they ever could that they result to personal, useless, baseless, verbal attacks?
ReplyDelete