Tea Party activists scream racial epithets and spit on black congressmen

A screaming gauntlet of Tea Party protesters tried to block US congressmen, including civil rights pioneer John Lewis and other black congressmen, from entering the Capitol earlier today.

Lewis, a veteran of civil rights marches of the 60s, and deeply respected on both sides of the aisle that divides Republicans from Democrats, has certainly heard and seen worse, but the rest of us may want to ponder the image of the aged Lewis, now a Congressman -- and a long time advocate of equal rights and respect for all people and points of view -- being blockaded, harassed, and the subject of screamed epithets and implied physical threats by anti-health-care-reform advocates in the streets of the Capitol.

Worse, one protester actually spat on Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) It was reported that police detained that protester (he was later released when Cleaver refused to press charges) and led the Congressmen to safety inside the Capitol. Elsewhere, a crowd of about 100 protesters confronted openly gay Congressman Barney Frank, telling him to vote against health reform, and then hurled anti-gay epithets at him.

These events, on the south side of the Capitol, followed a rally that drew several thousand people to the west side and featured an appearance by Tea Party favorite Michele Bachmann.

According to the Washington Post:

Protesters outside the Capitol hurled epithets at Reps. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Andre Carson (D-Ind.) as they left the building after President Obama delivered an 11th-hour speech on behalf of the health care bill. Carson told reporters that protesters yelled "kill the bill," then used a racial epithet to describe Carson and Lewis, who is a revered figure on both sides of the aisle.

Fox News reported:

“It’s okay, I’ve faced this before,” said Lewis of Saturday’s incident. “I haven’t heard anything like this in 40, 45 years. Since the march to Selma, really.”