INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has submitted an resolution to Gov. Eric Holcomb seeking the resignation and public censure of Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour.
“When so many Hoosiers are fighting, literally, for their very lives the time is now that divisive messages of hate, disrespect and disdain will not be tolerated by those who have taken an oath of office,” according to conference representatives. “We are better than this. We call upon you to send forth that message.”
Lucas is being accused of racism after creating and posting an image of a group of black children dancing with the words “We gon’ get free money!” written on the photo on his Facebook page. The post went up at 9:04 p.m. May 11 and initially Lucas said he would not remove it.
It has since been removed after Lucas was removed from the interim study committees on elections and public policy and demoted as vice chair of the committee on government reduction, House Speaker Todd Huston said.
“The post is unacceptable and I don’t condone it,” Huston, R-Fishers, told the Indianapolis Star.
In a follow-up post, Lucas wrote he was bored on Monday and made several memes through a meme generator. He said the intention of the post was to criticize federal bailout efforts, and that he believes the government is overstepping its authority.
“I used this STOCK PHOTO of a little boy dancing and celebrating because the government is handing out free money, to everyone, regardless of their skin color,” Lucas wrote in the post. “I phrased it in a celebratory way and have danced and mocked things in that exact same manner myself. I’m white. But hey, it’s a picture of a black kid so I guess that makes it different, WHICH IF YOU THINK THAT WAY, IS THE VERY DEFINITION OF RACISM!”
Lucas, R-Seymour, said he took the stock photo that he posted on his Facebook page Monday from a meme generator. He said the language simply reflects how he and other people talk.
“I am not a racist,” said Lucas, who subsequently deactivated his Facebook page.
Last year, he posted a picture of a gallows with two nooses under a WISH-TV Facebook story about a black man pleading guilty to rape.
