White supremacist Avi Rachlin shamelessly dropped the N-word during a Michigan Senate committee hearing on Thursday (Nov. 14). The slur was used after he falsely said lawmakers were attacking the gun rights of white people following President-elect Donald Trump’s win.
According to The Detroit News, Rachlin claimed he was representing “Groypers for America,” an alt-right extremist movement known for perpetuating racist and antisemitic rhetoric.
He opened his remarks claiming that Democrats’ proposed legislation expanding a firearms ban went against the “will of the people.”
“This is legislation that targets White people,” Rachlin stated. “It is racial because the people who carry in the Capitol are primarily white people...and this is retaliation for the only demographic that overwhelmingly voted to support Donald Trump.”
Rachlin then said that lawmakers should focus their sights on Black people who shoot others in places like Detroit. He then pointed out that the committee’s chairwoman, Sen. Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit, represents a portion of the city.
Rachlin referred to those Black folks as “overwhelmingly 13 to 34 year old Sub-Saharan African n******.”
Chang hit her gavel in response and said the committee was going to move on.
“Are you going to have armed guards remove me?” Rachlin asked. “Armed men with guns?”
Sen. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake, asked, “Did I just hear you call a group of people by some epithet?”
“Yes,” Rachlin said.
Runestad balked at Rachlin’s racist statement. “It’s just a ridiculous argument,” he said. “The term that you used is inappropriate. And it will not get you anywhere in this Legislature.”
Ultimately, the committee voted 4-2 to send the bills to the full Senate. Currently, visitors to the Michigan Capitol are banned from bringing firearms into the building unless they are security or law enforcement.
Back in 2020, Democratic lawmakers requested a change to firearm regulations in the Capitol when armed demonstrators and militia members went into the building demanding an end to COVID-19.