Calling it "wildly entitled and absurd" that anyone would even expect Alabama's Democratic members of Congress, U.S. Reps. Terri Sewell (D-Birmingham) and Shomari Figures (D-Prichard), to support the resolution for a "National Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk," the Alabama Democratic Party and both lawmakers repeated false accusations that Kirk was racist.
All five Republican members of the delegation co-sponsored the measure, which passed last Friday with bipartisan support in a 310-58 vote.
In a Facebook post, the Alabama Democratic Party said, "Expecting two Black Congress members from Alabama, one of whom her mother was Selma's first black city councilwoman, the other his father fought the Ku Klux Klan, to honor a man who promoted racism and the Great Replacement Theory is wildly entitled and absurd."
"Kirk's killing can be condemned without a resolution that attempts to legitimize and elevate the stance of someone who thought less of them and millions of others because of the color of their skin," the statement continued.
Sewell issued a statement that said in part, "In a clear effort to further divide Americans and Members of Congress, unfortunately, the resolution House Republicans brought to the floor today included divisive language glorifying the viewpoints Charlie Kirk espoused."
She went on to detail statements that have been fact-checked and proven to be false and misleading, saying, "Charlie Kirk called the passage of the Civil Rights Act a mistake. He has repeatedly disparaged the accomplishments of African Americans and insulted our intelligence. He said 'Blacks were actually better off in the 1940s… They committed less crimes.' As a Black woman and the representative of our nation's civil rights district, I cannot vote to celebrate an ideology that runs counter to the values that so many of our fellow Alabamians fought, bled, and died for."
Figures did not post about the resolution on his social media or issue a statement on his website however, according to AL(dot)com in a statement given to them, in which he also condemned the killing, he said, "I cannot support a resolution that includes language that honors the 'leadership and legacy' of a man whose ideology and words consistently demeaned, disrespected, and ridiculed Black people."
"People died in Alabama in pursuit of equal treatment in the form of a Civil Rights Act that he called 'a mistake'. He referred to Martin Luther King, Jr. as an awful person and repeatedly insulted the intelligence of Black women, said that Black people were better during Jim Crow, and even used his platform to encourage an "amazing patriot" to bail out of jail the man who broke into the home of a member of Congress and beat her husband nearly to death with a hammer," Figures reportedly stated.
"While I fully support his right to say all of those things, and condemn his death in the strongest possible terms, what I cannot do is support a resolution honoring that type of legacy of inflammatory, divisive, and harmful rhetoric," he added.
The resolution "calls upon all Americans—regardless of race, party affiliation, or creed—to reject political violence, recommit to respectful debate, uphold American values, and respect one another as fellow Americans."
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