Republican Congressman Chip Roy of Texas made what appeared to be a pro-lynching comment during a Hearing of the Judicial Committee of the Chamber the rise in American anti-Asian violence and discrimination on Thursday. His comments were immediately criticized by other lawmakers in sight, but he responded in a statement after saying “I meant it.”
“We believe in justice. There are old sayings in Texas about finding all the rope in Texas and getting a tall oak,” Roy said at Thursday’s hearing. “We take justice very seriously. And we should do it. Round off the bad guys. That’s what we believe,” he added. “My concern for this audience is that they seem to want to venture into the surveillance of rhetoric in a free, free-speech society, away from the rule of law and eliminating the bad guys.”
Roy also mocked the “Chinese Communist Party” and suggested that the audience try to control “rhetoric in a free society.”
Representative Grace Meng of New York, who is the first vice president of the Asia-Pacific American Congress and testified Thursday, responded forcefully to Roy’s statements.
Meng said Republicans and former President Trump had helped incite violence against Asian Americans by using a language such as the “China virus” to describe the coronavirus.
“Your president, your party, and your colleagues can talk about issues with any other country you want, but you don’t have to do that by keeping an eye on Asian Americans across this country, our grandparents, our children .This audience tried to deal with the pain and grief of our community, to find solutions, and we will not let that take our voice away, ”Meng said.
In a post-hearing statement, Roy defended his comments emphasizing that “more justice” was needed in race-related violence.
“Apparently some people freak out that I used an old expression about finding all the rope in Texas and a tall oak about how to do justice to the bad guys. I meant it,” Roy said. “We need more justice and less police. We need to stop the bad guys, like the ones who attacked Atlanta this week, or the cartels that abused young children … We should restore order by hitting the bad guys, it doesn’t matter America in an authoritarian state like the Chinese communists trying to destroy us. “
Roy added, “No apologies.”
But social media users noted that the line Roy used was not a familiar saying in Texas, but was similar to a lyrics to a song by country singers Toby Keith and Willie Nelson called “Beer for My Horses.” The song includes the line “Grab all the rope in Texas, find a tall oak, round them all up for the bad guys, hang them on the street.”
Asian Americans were almost subdued 3,800 hate incidents over the past year, according to a report published by Stop AAPI Hate. Verbal harassment and flight accounted for 68% of incidents and physical violence accounted for 11%, with more than 503 allegations of violence in 2021 alone, according to the report. These incidents illustrate the wave of violence that the Asian community has suffered throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
Thursday’s hearing was scheduled before a gunman opened fire on three spas in the Atlanta area and killed eight people, including six women of Asian descent, dead. The alleged gunman, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, denied the attack was racially motivated, but officials said it was still too early to rule out a hate crime. Long told investigators he had a “sex addiction” and saw spas as a temptation he wanted to eliminate, officials said.