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A Democratic state lawmaker interrupted President Donald Trump’s speech in Virginia Tuesday by referencing his racist attacks against four Democratic congresswomen of color.
“Mr. President, you can’t send us back! Virginia is our home,” Ibraheem Samirah, a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, said at Trump’s speech, which was intended to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Jamestown ― home of the first representative legislative assembly in the Western Hemisphere.
Police officers escorted out Samirah, who carried signs reading “Deport Hate” and “Go Back To Your Corrupted Home,” while audience members booed and chanted “Trump.”
In a statement, Samirah said that he “refused to sit idly by while President Donald Trump, a beacon of hate speech and harmful policy, hijacks a celebration of democratic values he doesn’t even hold.”
Earlier this month, Trump told four congresswomen of color who have criticized him and his administration to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came,” employing a racist phrase routinely used to denigrate and otherize people of color. All four lawmakers — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) — are U.S. citizens, and three of them were born in the United States.
At a rally later that week, Trump supporters viciously chanted “send her back,” referring to Omar.
This weekend, Trump, who has a long history of racism, also unleashed a barrage of racist attacks against Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and his majority-black congressional district.
This story has been updated with more information about Samirah.
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