Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) plans to sit out President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night.
“I’m not going, because to go would be to honor the president,” Wilson told CNN on Monday. “And I don’t think he deserves to be honored at this time, after being so hateful towards black people and then black countries, Haiti, and the whole continent of Africa.”
Wilson was referring to recent comments from the president in which he described Haiti and African nations as “shithole countries.”
“It hurts,” she said. “He has brought the White House to the lowest, and I don’t think he needs to be honored with my presence.”
In a tweet earlier this month, Wilson wrote that it would be “hypocrisy” for her to go to the State of the Union.
Some other Democrats, including Reps. Maxine Waters (Calif.), Pramila Jayapal (Wash.) and John Lewis (Ga.) are also planning to skip the State of the Union.
Dozens of other lawmakers are bringing specific guests as a way to protest Trump’s policies, including Dreamers, sexual assault survivors and activists, transgender military personnel and Puerto Ricans who were displaced after Hurricane Maria. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rep. Debbie Dingell (Mich.) are bringing Dreamers to protest Trump dismantling the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-Mass.), who is slated to deliver the Democratic response to Trump’s address, invited Army Staff Sgt. Patricia King, a trans soldier, to protest the transgender military ban Trump introduced.
“I want her to be there as a real person, and the face of an inhumane policy,” Kennedy told The Boston Globe.
The State of the Union address will air Tuesday at 9 p.m. Eastern.