Sid Miller’s Facebook post, now deleted.
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Sid Miller has served the Texas House of Representatives for 12 years prior to his election as the state’s agriculture commissioner, and this is not the first time he has made headlines for his anti-Muslim remarks.
Lauren McGaughy, state politics reporter for the Houston Chronicle, tells Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson that Miller has made anti-Muslim statements in the past, and hasn’t suffered significant blowback from constituents, despite Texas’ large Muslim community.
A spokesperson said Miller didn’t create the post himself, but that his campaign team has no interest in finding out who did.
Miller’s Facebook photo was removed sometime on Monday morning but it has received more than 300 comments. “Sadly, this kind of racist, xenophobic hate speech qualifies you for higher office with Republicans’ Tea Party fringe base”, said Manny Garcia, Texas Democratic Party Deputy Executive Director. But instead of being angry with Miller over the post, he said, people should focus their criticisms toward Islamic terrorists, Iranian leaders and President Barack Obama and demand apologies for their words and actions.
“We think those are all issues that deserve an apology and are much more serious than a thought-provoking Facebook post”, Smith said. Commemorating the bombings this month, Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, called for an end to nuclear warfare.
Texas Democrats called on the Republican lawmaker to apologize Monday.
“It is unacceptable for Republican Sid Miller to be promoting such disgusting rhetoric”.
In January, Miller said that he could not sleep at night for the fear of the United States becoming a “Muslim country”.
“Miller, or whoever is behind his Facebook account, added the commentary to the shared post, “#noislamknowpeace and #COMETAKE”.
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During the Texas Public Policy Foundation forum, he raised the issue, asking, “Are we doing enough?”
