Democrat Rep. Lateefah Simon of California erupted during a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday, objecting to Republican witnesses invoking the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during testimony related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, as reported by The Independent Journal Review.
Simon directed her outburst toward Dan Lennington of the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, Judge Glock of the Manhattan Institute, and Erec Smith of the Cato Institute.
All three were testifying during a session focused on the future of DEI policies in federal and private institutions.
“There are so few folks who have actually studied and is clear on the theology of King,” Simon said.
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“Very few of you have read and studied and have sat in Ebenezer Baptist Church so I would ask you, you keep Dr. King’s name out of your mouth!”
Simon claimed that those invoking King’s words were misrepresenting his legacy.
She argued that King and the civil rights movement would not support the positions advanced by the witnesses or by the Trump administration.
She added:
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“He and the mothers and the fathers of the Civil Rights Movement and the movement for emancipation not only would be struck by the conversations in this room, but would be shattered by the consequences of lives, of hatred and abuse of this administration in the name of those who worked to make this country more free.”
Simon accused President Donald Trump’s administration of using Dr. King’s name to justify policies she said were regressive.
“They’re motivated by a fear of a multiracial and multicultural democracy,” she said. “A fear that freedom of coequal citizens living as their authentic selves with pride. Out of fear, they have a fear of accountability.”
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Simon claimed that Republicans were engaging in “bigotry” and “hypocrisy” by citing civil rights leaders while opposing certain modern racial policies.
She also referenced Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 2023 decision to block an AP African American Studies course that included content on “black queer studies” and critical race theory.
“In the same breath where they seek to ban AP African American Studies, that tells the true story of this country! It ain’t just one story, it is the complete story,” she said.
Following President Trump’s return to office, he signed an executive order on January 21 eliminating race-based DEI initiatives across the federal government.
All DEI employees were placed on paid leave. Corporations nationwide followed with major rollbacks in diversity-related staffing and programs.
Simon ended her remarks by claiming Republicans want to return to a “1950s America,” saying, “Some of us say ‘hell no.’”
BREAKING: Democrat Rep. Lateefah Simon goes HAYWIRE on Republicans for invoking the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, shouts and demands they NEVER invoke him again.
"4 out of the 5 of you last year posted on your social media the words of Dr. King...I would ask you, you KEEP… pic.twitter.com/7YmUsEJlra— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) June 25, 2025
Dr. King is often quoted for his emphasis on judging individuals “by the content of their character,” a message that has come into sharp focus in current debates over DEI practices, which sometimes include racial and gender-based quotas in hiring and education.
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She is afraid of her D.E.I. ideology being destroyed when people recognize that following Dr. King’s hopes would not be supportive of that ideology. True to dem policy, if you do not say what they want you to say, shut up. She is only again trying use censorship to promote only the way she wants things to be and cover up any dissenting opinion.
So she’s just another racist Democrat that should be summarily ignored.
The funny thing is Dr.King was against the very things she wanted; he looked for a day when you saw the man and not the race. Democrats in the US and Liberals in Canada have the same them against us shtick they have always had. When the Dems wrote the Jim Crow Act and when they formed the KKK sure weren’t doing what Dr. King would have approved of.