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Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, speaks in the Indiana House during the 2019 legislative session. Photo by Bryan Wells, TheStatehouseFile.com
First published February 18, 2021 inÂ
During the House session on Thursday, a bill concerning school district boundaries that some are calling racist sparked an emotional and angry debate. Several legislators walked out of the chamber, GOP legislators in their seats booed and shouted “no” and “stop,” and some members even clashed in the halls after Black legislators spoke out against the bill.
The confrontations broke out on a day when Black members were celebrating Black History Month by wearing traditional African garb.
Black Indiana Lawmakers Face Republican Boos During Debate
Lauren Chapman/IPB News
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Tempers flared among Indiana legislators during a debate Thursday when Black lawmakers were shouted down and booed by some Republicans and two House members had to be separated in a hallway.
Democratic Rep. Greg Porter of Indianapolis, who is Black, was speaking in the Indiana House against a bill allowing a rural, mostly white, St. Joseph County township to leave the South Bend Community Schools, which is about 60 percent Black or Hispanic, when he called the proposal discriminatory.
Several Republican members said loudly “no” and “stop,” after which Porter, who was wearing traditional African clothing in recognition of Black History Month, left the House meeting room.
Indiana Republican lawmakers shout down, boo Black colleagues speaking about discrimination Arika Herron and Kaitlin Lange, Indianapolis Star
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INDIANAPOLIS - Tensions flared at the Indiana Statehouse Thursday when Republican lawmakers shouted down and booed Black lawmakers during floor debate on a bill that some see as discriminatory.
Rep. Greg Porter, D-Indianapolis, walked off the House floor after several Republican lawmakers loudly objected to his warnings of discrimination in House Bill 1367. Porter, a member of the Black caucus, said the bill would allow students in a St. Joseph County township to leave the South Bend Community Schools, which are racially diverse, to join a nearby school district that s smaller, more rural and made up primarily of white students.