Rep. Hank Johnson pushes ‘white nationalist ideology’ as the greatest threat to the homeland at hearing
Heather Hunter
Video Embed
Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) claimed on Wednesday at a House Judiciary Committee hearing that “white nationalist ideology” was the nation’s “greatest threat.”
While speaking to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Johnson ripped into Florida for telling “teachers how to teach history, particularly black history.” He repeated Vice President Kamala Harris’s claim that the state was pushing a curriculum that spread the concept that “slaves benefited from being slaves.”
ALL IN THE FAMILY: DEMOCRAT MAXINE WATERS PAYS THOUSANDS MORE FROM CAMPAIGN TO DAUGHTER
Rep. Hank Johnson
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) pushed back, saying Harris is trying to push a “fake narrative” about the curriculum.
Johnson claimed Republicans were pushing the theory that immigrants were “invaders” and that that thought process could lead to “violence.” He cited the example of the El Paso, Texas, shooting as an example of a shooter “inspired by white nationalist theories like the great replacement theory.”
The lawmaker then asked Mayorkas about the impact of “white nationalist rhetoric.”
“Regardless of political views, we should all stand for the principles that hate is unacceptable. Mr. Secretary, what kind of impact does this white nationalist rhetoric of invasion or replacement have on minority communities?” Johnson asked at the hearing.
“Congressman, when an act of hate occurs, it’s not just the community that is impacted. The impact is felt across this nation. The most prominent terrorist related threats that we face in the homeland is what we term domestic violence extremism,” the secretary said.
Johnson interjected, “And it’s white nationalist extremism, is it not?”
“There are diverse ideologies that underlay the acts of violence, but white nationalism is one of them. But we do not focus on the ideology. We focus on the connectivity to violence in our effort to prevent that violence. We see it with a diverse range of ideologies of hate, anti-government sentiment, personal grievances; false narratives fuel acts of violence. It is the connectivity to violence,” Mayorkas responded.
Johnson followed up to ask whether “replacement theory” puts a “target on the backs of immigrants.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“It certainly fuels,” Mayorkas said.
Johnson has a history of using charged rhetoric, including accusing his colleague Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) of promoting “white power” last year and calling former President Donald Trump an “authoritarian anti-immigrant racist strongman” in 2019.