“You should hide your head in a bag!” Kennedy Should Face Consequences for Racist Attacks on Arab-American Witness
(AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)
MSNBC host Chris Hayes called for consequences after Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana launched a racially charged line of questioning during a hearing on hate crimes. Kennedy’s remarks were directed at Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab-American Institute, and the only Muslim witness at the hearing.
On his show All In, Hayes told viewers that while Kennedy may not be as infamous as Senators Ted Cruz or Josh Hawley, his harmful rhetoric deserves equal scrutiny. “Time and time again, when given the opportunity, Kennedy uses his platform to disparage Arab-American and Muslim-American communities with bigoted poison,” Hayes said.
The controversy stemmed from a Senate hearing on Tuesday, where Berry presented data showing a sharp rise in hate crimes against Arabs and Jews in the U.S., with increases of 73 percent and 58 percent, respectively, compared to a 7 percent rise in overall hate crimes.
During the hearing, Kennedy interrupted Berry to ask, “You support Hamas, don’t you?” Berry, stunned, responded by thanking him for highlighting the very issue of hate that the hearing sought to address. “Hamas is a foreign terrorist organization that I do not support, but you asking the executive director of the Arab-American Institute that question very much puts the focus on the issue of hate in our country,” Berry said.
Kennedy continued with inflammatory questions, pressing Berry on her views of Hezbollah, Iran, and Hamas. His repeated attacks culminated in the senator telling her, “You should hide your head in a bag!” The comment was met with groans and gasps from attendees.
Hayes noted this was not the first time Kennedy had made bigoted remarks. Last year, Kennedy accused Adeel Mangi, a lawyer nominated to a federal appeals court, of celebrating the September 11 attacks, a false claim that has stalled Mangi’s nomination.
“Accusing Arab-Americans and Muslim-Americans of supporting terrorism is obviously racist and Islamophobic,” Hayes declared. He argued that Kennedy’s suggestion that Berry “hide her head in a bag” was “frankly unacceptable” and called for professional consequences.
“In a normal world, we would be talking immediately about censuring Senator Kennedy. His colleagues would. There would be a discussion about him losing his committee seats. It’s the kind of rank bigotry that would get you fired from a regular job,” Hayes concluded.
