Arizona House Republicans moved to silence the legislative body's only two black members after they criticized a column written by a lawmaker that used the n-word .
The column, written by State Representative Maria Syms for The Arizona Republic, blasted two education advocates as "political advocates" and suggested they have communist leanings. The advocates are part of a grassroots movement called #redfored, which supports Arizona teachers as they strike for better pay.
Syms criticized one leader, Arizona teacher Noah Karvelis, for examining hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar in his class. She cited some sample lyrics from Lamar, which included the n-word. The newspaper has since removed the offensive word from the op-ed.
Two Representatives, Reginald Bolding and Geraldine Peten, both Democrats, spoke out about the column Wednesday.
"This article attempts to discredit this teacher because he 'takes inspiration' from a black civil rights activist. This article attempts to discredit this teacher because he 'admires' a professor that taught at a historically black college for women," said Bolding, according to the Associated Press. "The more I read the more I was disappointed that it appears to be OK to use a racial slur about black people in the article. Let me be crystal clear: It's not acceptable to us a racial slur even if that slur is used as a quote."
The Majority Republican House silenced them for what they said were violations of House decorum rules.
Syms defended her op-ed piece.
"Every person in the state of Arizona should be offended by these racially-offensive words that are being used in our classroom right now," said Syms who thanked her fellow Republicans for defending her, according to the Associated Press.
Karvelis told The Arizona Republic Wednesday that he used versions of the songs suitable for his young class, without offensive language.
Neither Bolding nor Syms could be immediately reached for comment by Newsweek.
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