Of course, because who couldn’t see the similarities between Nelson Mandela spending 27 years in jail, many of them in a coffin-size box to Bobby Rush putting on a hood?
Via WaPo:
Wearing a hoodie on the floor of the House of Representatives was the least that Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) could do to make a point about Trayvon Martin’s shooting death, the lawmaker said Wednesday afternoon.
Speaking to a scrum of reporters after a series of legislative votes, Rush explained that his background as a civil rights activist in the 1960s inspired his decision to speak out.
A transcript of his exchange with reporters — edited for clarity and length — appears below:
When did you decide to do this?
“Really, just last night I decided I wanted to do something, I wanted to make a statement that a hoodie is nothing but a piece of clothing and it should not be the cause of the death of anybody in America. It’s just a piece of clothing. It’s wrong when a young man, Trayvon Martin, or any other young man is killed just for wearing a piece of clothing and being in the wrong neighborhood at the wrong time. And being of the wrong color.”
So emotionally it was almost like a 1960s flashback — civil disobedience?
“Well, and I think that the House, and those of us who know the importance of civil disobedience, and sometimes civil disobedience is important. We salute Dr. King, the memory of Dr. King, Nelson Mandela and others. Sometimes we have to kind of summon the courage to stand up in the face of injustice. And I quoted one of my favorite passages from the Bible, Micah 6:6-8: When the Lord asked the prophet Michael, ‘What do I require thee oh man but to love mercy, do justice and walk humbly with your God.’ And I put emphasis on the ‘do justice.’ That means stand up for justice and against injustice. And that’s what I was doing.”