It was a signature moment of the Democratic resistance to Donald Trump as he began his second term: Longtime Texas congressman Al Green frantically waving his cane, jeering the president as he delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress in early March.
Green was eventually escorted from the chamber after ignoring repeated requests from House Speaker Mike Johnson to sit down. He was later censured by the Republican-dominated House.
But some Republicans just can’t seem to let go of Green’s protest. Colorado congresswoman Lauren Boebert, who tried to shout down former President Joe Biden at his 2022 State of the Union address, said Green didn’t need the cane to walk, adding, “If that gold-plated cane isn’t a pimp cane, I don’t know what is.”
Now, another GOP lawmaker, Tennessee Rep. Diana Harshbarger, is claiming the cane is just a prop to conceal a firearm. She also seemed to disparage her 77-year-old Black colleague by referring to him as “boy” in an interview with a conservative Christian podcaster Booney Crawford.
The two were discussing how members interact behind the scenes when talk turned to the Democrats’ response to Trump during his March address.
“Is it like, you know, like here locally, or I guess it’s everywhere, where attorneys will get in a courtroom and they’ll fuss and fight with each other, but as soon as it’s over, they go out to dinner, have coffee, whatever?” Crawford asked in a recent interview.
“Well, Lord Jesus, they make money that way, too,” Harshbarger replied. “They get up and rant and rave and tweet, or X, or whatever it is.”
“Hold their signs up during the State of the Union,” Crawford noted.
Harshbarger said she wanted to grab some of those signs from the Democrats but didn’t because “Al Green was over here with his cane, and I’m like, gosh, dang it, boy, put that … He does not need that cane. That cane is a prop.”
“I swear it’s not real,” Harshbarger continued. “And I’m wondering, one of my colleagues said, ‘screw the gold part off of that and see if there’s a gun in there. ‘”
“I’m like, I don’t know about that man,” she concluded, “He’s just weird Al.”
Harshbarger’s comments were largely condemned on social media.
“@RepHarshbarger called a black member of Congress, a boy today in an interview. She’s a racist,” declared one X account holder.
Added another: “The cane is real. Her hair is fake.”
Asked a third: “What is WRONG with these lunatics??”
Harshbarger did have a few defenders: “I probably don’t have a ton in common with her, but this was clearly a joke,” wrote one man. “Collegiality and a sense of humor is something we need more of.”
“I’m from the South and calling a grown black man boy is grounds for termination,” responded one X user. “She knew exactly what TF she was doing. Sh-t wasn’t f***in funny at all.”
Atlanta Black Star News has reached out to Green’s office for comment.
