A GOP candidate paralyzed from the waist down after a car accident stood up while addressing the Republican National Convention on Wednesday – and was promptly criticized by a White House correspondent who accused him of rebuking black athletes protesting the police brutality by kneeling during the national anthem.
The moment: Madison Cawthorn, a small businessman who defeated Lynda Bennett in the June primary for North Carolina’s 11th Congressional district, delivered a speech centered around facing adversity and rebuilding American institutions.
Cawthorn described his struggle to overcome the near-fatal injuries he suffered in a car accident as a teenager and advocated models for American renewal.
- Paralyzed: “It took me a year to recover. My first public outing in a wheelchair was to a professional baseball game. Before my accident, I was 6’3”. As I wheeled through the stadium, I felt invisible. At 20, I thought about giving up. However, I knew I could make a difference. My accident has given me new eyes to see and new ears to hear. God protected my mind and ability to speak. I say to the people who feel forgotten, ignored and invisible, I see you — I hear you,” Cawthorn said.
- On kneeling: “You don’t have to apologize for your beliefs or cower to a mob. You can kneel before God but stand for our flag.”
- Home of the brave: “I say to Americans who love our country, be a radical for freedom. Be a radical for liberty. Be a radical for our republic, for which I stand, one nation under God, with the liberty and justice for all.”
“Thank you and may God bless America,” Cawthorn concluded, as two assistants helped him stand with the aid of a walker.
Journalism? Yamiche Alcindor, a White House correspondent for PBS who has sparred with President Donald Trump in the past, reacted to Cawthorn’s speech by tweeting that his decision to stand was a “direct rebuke of actions by people — including black athletes who are currently sitting out games — protesting police brutality.”
Alcindor’s comments met with swift backlash on social media, and her tweet earned the ignominious honor of being “ratioed.”
Senior Federalist editor Mollie Hemingway suggested the comments showed the White House press corps are “completely insane.”
Rita Panahi, an Australian columnist for The Herald Sun, tweeted bluntly, “You are incredibly stupid.”
Lawyer and conservative pundit Jeff Blehar expressed disbelief at Alcindor’s take.
The Great Awokening: The issue of police shootings of black men, including most recently Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, have precipitated an activist uprising that has led to racial justice protests, boycotts, as well as violent riots and looting in some urban centers.
- Kneeling during the national anthem, a protest against police brutality and racism popularized by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick in 2016, has lately gone mainstream amid a nationwide racial justice movement.
- Following Blake’s shooting on Sunday, the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks refused to play a playoff game against the Orlando Magic in protest, setting off similar boycotts in the NBA, WNBA and MLB.
Rising star: Cawthorn is likely to become the youngest Republican ever elected to Congress in November.
- The real estate investment CEO defeated Lynda Barrett, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump, in the primary for the seat vacated by Mark Meadows when he became Trump’s chief of staff.
