U.S. Virgin Islands Congressional Delegate Stacey Plaskett has made provably false racism allegations against Wisconsin Congressman Glenn Grothman, claiming that he said "black people do not understand old-fashioned families" on the House floor Wednesday and used the phrase "welfare mamas" during committee meetings. He said neither.
During a floor speech on the COVID-19 relief bill Democrats passed later Wednesday, Grothman took issue with what he called the measure's "marriage penalty."
"I bring it up because I know the strength that Black Lives Matter had in this last election," he said. "I know it's a group that doesn't like the old-fashioned family. I'm disturbed that we have another program here in which we're increasing the marriage penalty."
Plaskett, a non-voting delegate Congress who participates in floor debates, immediately took issue with this and rebuked Grothman in a floor speech of her own.
"How dare you, how dare you say that Black Lives Matter, black people do not understand old-fashioned families despite some of the issues, some of the things that you have put forward that I've heard out of your mouth in the Oversight Committee, in your own district,” she said. "We have been able to keep our families alive for over 400 years, and the assault on our families to not have black lives or not even have black families. How dare you say that we are not interested in families in the black community. That is outrageous. That should be stricken down."
At no point did Grothman ever say that the black community or black people "are not interested in families" or that "black people do not understand old-fashioned families." He said that Black Lives Matter--the left-wing political organization--"doesn't like the old-fashioned family."
This is undeniably true. On its own website's "What We Believe" page, Black Lives Matter wrote that its members "disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and 'villages' that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable."
Only after conservative commentators criticized the group for this radical position did Black Lives Matter remove the phrase from its site in September.
Grothman was rather obviously referring to this now-deleted phrase and said nothing about general attitudes about the nuclear family within the black community. On this, Plaskett lied on the floor of the House.
On Wednesday night, she lied again, telling MSNBC's Joy Reid that during committee meetings and while Grothman is in his congressional district in Wisconsin, he has used racist phrases such as "welfare mamas" to refer to black women who receive public assistance.
"Do you want to share with us what does this guy say in your committee meetings?" Reid asked.
"Oh, well, you know, umm, if you just look up Glenn Grothman, he has a history of making remarks about, you know, welfare mamas and, uhhh, just very racist, racist remarks throughout his time when he was even in the State Legislature in Wisconsin and, of course, in the committee," Plaskett answered.
"The Dan O'Donnell Show" followed Plaskett's advice and Googled "Glenn Grothman" "welfare mamas." Only one result was returned: A transcript of Plaskett making the allegation that he used the phrase. In other words, there is no documented evidence that Grothman has ever actually said "welfare mamas." In other words, Plaskett was again lying.
"She is a lying person," Grothman told "The Dan O'Donnell Show" Thursday morning in his first remarks about the controversy. "I was defending the black family from this organization which, they say--the founders--'We are trained Marxists. I do not like the fact that way too many politicians in the last election cycle accepted help from Black Lives Matter, a group that says they are against the nuclear family."
In July, video from 2015 surfaced in which Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors--a protege of convicted Weather Underground terrorist Eric Mann--said that she and fellow co-founder Alicia Garza are "trained Marxists."
"The first thing, I think, is that we actually do have an ideological frame. Myself and Alicia in particular are trained organizers," she told the Real News Network. "We are trained Marxists. We are super-versed on, sort of, ideological theories. And I think that what we really tried to do is build a movement that could be utilized by many, many black folk."
Plaskett has not responded to a request for comment.
Dan O'Donnell debunked Plaskett's allegations on Thursday's show and asked that she apologize for them. Click on the player below to listen and click here to subscribe to "The Dan O'Donnell Show" on iHeartRadio.