Democrat Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse was blasted on social media over a post where he compared his Democratic colleague’s outburst at a press conference to the work of a late Civil Rights hero. The senator faced immediate backlash from both parties for drawing a controversial parallel between Sen. Alex Padilla’s incident and the efforts of the late Civil Rights leader John Lewis.
Shortly after Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., was forcibly removed and handcuffed during a press conference held by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles amid anti-ICE rioting, Sen. Whitehouse posted a photo of the incident alongside a historic photo of Lewis being confronted by police officers after being attacked by a mob at a South Carolina bus station. Lewis was arrested over 40 times during the Civil Rights Movement and was a major figure during many prominent moments of the era, including the Freedom Rides, speaking at the March on Washington and participating in the Selma to Montgomery marches in Alabama.
GOP Congressman Burgess Owens, who was raised in the Jim Crow South, was one of many who took issue with the comparison.