*Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, who is no stranger to racist controversies, has come under fire for giving Republicans credit for the Medgar Edgars National monument.
Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, called Bryant “despicable” and accused him of ignoring the work of Rep. Bennie Thompson, who has advocated for years for Evers’ Jackson, Mississippi home to be named a national monument.
Trump signed a bill on Tuesday that designated the house of Evers and his wife, Myrlie, a national monument.
Bryant wasted no time expressing his appreciation to the president.
“Thank you to @realDonaldTrump for signing legislation today to designate Medgar and Myrlie Evers home as a National Monument. @SenatorWicker & @SenHydeSmith have worked very hard on this for some time and are to be commended,” he tweeted.
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.@PhilBryantMS praise of @realDonaldTrump is a blatant, disrespectful move against Medgar Evers who died from the same racist rhetoric Trump spews. As a former Mississippi NAACP President, this was a dark mark on a celebratory day for a civil rights hero. https://t.co/uh7R2WELKq
— Derrick Johnson (@DerrickNAACP) March 17, 2019
“I don’t know much about the governor of Mississippi, but he is clearly despicable,” Bass said in a call with reporters Friday. “There is no way in the world that he should not have acknowledged the decades of work that Congressman Bennie Thompson has put in. So for him to specifically ignore him is really just an example of his pettiness.”
Thompson, the only Democrat and Black member in the state’s delegation, also responded Wednesday to that tweet. “Give adequate credit. I’ve worked on this for 16 years,” he wrote on Twitter.
Thompson later explained to WJTV, “Governor Bryant historically has been against civil rights in this state and for him to try to capture this moment is disingenuous on his part… You can’t get on this train when it’s left the station 16 years ago and try to pretend you were conductor.”
Evers’ widow also slammed the governor for showering praise on the unworthy.
“I have given too much to sit down and be quiet about something that I feel is unjust,” she told SiriusXM radio host Joe Madison on Friday. “How dare that be taken and given credit to one or two people who are new?”
Democrats and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus have also acknowledged Thompson for his work on the monument.
“You can take my word the entire Congressional Black Caucus was highly offended that he would be so disrespectful of one our most important members and a member who chairs a full committee – the Homeland Security Committee,” Bass said. “For him to disrespect him in the manner that he did, I hope the governor of Mississippi knows that the slight will not go unnoticed.”
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