Republican Representative from Georgia and QAnon adherent Marjorie Taylor Greene attended a gathering over the weekend for the right-wing youth group, Turning Point USA. The GOP member of Congress used an antiquated racial slur targeting Asian people while explaining how her party embraced diversity.
Since 2019, the United States has seen a sharp rise in anti-Asian hate crimes provocated by right-wing rhetoric about the pandemic with even former Republican President Donald Trump spouting racist language.
The freshman Congresswoman–notorious for spreading numerous conspiracy theories and advocating for the execution of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi–argued the GOP couldn't be a "White supremacist" party because "yellow people" voted for them.
"Yellow" is a derogatory term referring to East Asians. It was commonly used in the 1800s by White laborers who were fearful of Asian immigrants possibly taking their jobs.
You can watch a clip of Greene's speech, here.
WARNING: racist language
Newsweek's Danya Hajjaji reported:
"The Georgia Republican mentioned the term—which was historically used as a racist slur against Asian people—in her Sunday opening remarks on the second day of 'AmericaFest', a conference organized by conservative group Turning Point USA."
Greene said at the conference:
"'So I've never been to one of these events before. I've heard a little bit about them. I've seen a little bit of this event, this type of event before."
"And when I walked in yesterday, I was like, 'What kind of people come here?' So I'm walking around and seeing some good people and I see White people, Black people, brown people, yellow people...'"
Her speech caught the attention of Asian American actor, George Takei, on social media.
Prior to his Hollywood career, Takei was incarcerated with his parents in a Japanese Internment Camp during World War II after President Roosevelt authorized the racist Executive Order 9066.
He commented on the all-too-familiar racial slur on Twitter.
"I honestly haven’t heard someone use 'yellow people' for decades. Perhaps she meant 'yellow bellied people' because there are certainly lots in that crowd."
Greene continued in her speech:
"And then there's talk of freedom and loving America and conservative principles, some crazy people in here were talking about how much they love this guy named Jesus."
"And I heard—someone I really like—I think I heard that a lot of people here like a guy named Donald J. Trump."
The Georgia Republican added:
"And then I said 'Oh, oh, I know exactly what this is. The Left calls this a White supremacist party'."
"Okay, okay, I know what I'm going to now."
People were baffled over the irony of how she defended her party.
Greene joins other Republican candidates for office who used a racial slur, including former Chief Justice Roy Moore, who referred to "reds and yellows fighting," while commenting against racial, political and other divisions at a rally campaigning for Alabama's open Senate seat.
"Redskin" is a racial slur for Indigenous people of the Americas. The term came from bounties and the paid genocide of Indigenous populations.
Back in February, Greene was stripped of her seats on the House Budget Committee and the House Education and Labor Committee after disseminating violent and outrageous conspiracy theories–including one in which she repeatedly called 9/11 and school mass shootings a hoax.
