trayvon martin

Watch Rep. Bobby Rush Get Booted Out of the House for Wearing a Hoodie

A shouting match broke out this morning in the United States House of Representatives. Representative Bobby Rush (D-Illinois) removed his suit jacket in the middle of a fiery, biblically tinged speech to reveal a hoodie underneath. “Just because someone wears a hoodie, does not make them a hoodlum,” he said, voicing a call for justice in the Trayvon Martin case. 

The acting chair began banging his gavel, ordering Rush to remove his hood, as “clause five of rule seventeen prohibits the wearing of hats in the chamber.” Rush refused and was escorted out, still shouting Bible verses, by the sergeant-at-arms.

Interestingly enough, the hooded congressman is the only person to ever defeat Barack Obama in a race for public office, beating the future president in the 2000 Illinois Democratic primaries. He’s also a former Black Panther.

Rush responds on CNN: