When he held the sign that read, “Black People Aren’t Apes,” in response to a racist social media video depicting President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as primates, Congressman Al Green was confronting a long and painful history of dehumanization directed at Black Americans.
Originally published on AmericanCommunityMedia.org
Last night, as headlines flashed and commentators rushed to label him “out of line,” Congressman Al Green was escorted out of the State of the Union address after speaking out against President Donald Trump.
By morning, the narrative was already formed: attention-seeking. Disruptive. Political theater.
But I know a different Al Green.
The first time I met him was not in Washington. It was not at a fundraiser or a policy roundtable. It was at a church Fall Festival in southwest Houston. My son was dressed as Superman. My daughter was Wonder Woman. And there he was — walking through the crowd, shaking hands with parents, bending slightly to greet children, smiling like someone’s grandfather who had nowhere else he’d rather be.
We rushed for a photo. I told my children, “He’s a congressman. He fights for people like us.”
That moment felt natural. Familiar. Grounded.
And that is the man I see today.
According to his bio, Congressman Green has spent nearly five decades in public service. He served as a Harris County Justice of the Peace from 1977 to 2004. Since 2005, he has represented Texas’s 9th Congressional District — a district now reshaped through redistricting in ways many Houstonians believe dilute the political strength of the Black and Brown communities that built it.
His career has never been defined by silence.
In Congress, he has advocated for fair housing protections and anti-discrimination policy on the House Financial Services Committee. He supported reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. He fought for disaster relief funding for Houston families after Hurricane Harvey. He has pushed for affordable housing access and protections against predatory lending.
He has also continued to push the nation to confront its history. Alongside U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, Green reintroduced a resolution to establish a Slavery Remembrance Day — a formal recognition of the millions of lives stolen and exploited through chattel slavery and its lasting impact on American society. The measure calls for national reflection, education, and acknowledgment of the federal government’s role in sustaining the institution of slavery.
In 2012, he was arrested and handcuffed alongside actor and activist George Clooney while protesting human rights abuses in Sudan.
He has introduced articles of impeachment when others hesitated and has been unafraid to take unpopular positions.
Green remains consistent even when that consistency carries a cost.
Houston is grieving. With the passing of Sheila Jackson Lee and Sylvester Turner, two towering figures of Black political leadership are no longer here to occupy the national stage. Their absence is felt in churches, community centers, and city halls across this region.
Al Green remains.
When he held the sign that read, “Black People Aren’t Apes,” in response to a racist social media video depicting President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as primates, he was confronting a long and painful history of dehumanization directed at Black Americans.
It was also his second time being escorted from a presidential address. In the earlier incident, he was speaking out against cuts to Medicaid, raising his cane in protest, gathering national headlines.
Some critics question his decorum, but the manner in which they do it leaves others questioning theirs.
They mocked Green’s gold cane, comparing it to a pimp’s cane — a racialized stereotype long used to caricature Black men. That comparison was not harmless commentary. It was loaded.
Reducing a longtime public servant to a stereotype reveals how quickly dignity is challenged when a Black leader refuses to stay quiet.
This moment raises larger questions about who is permitted to express moral outrage on the national stage — and who is expected to absorb insult in silence.
Al Green did not begin fighting for justice yesterday. He has been doing it since before many of us were old enough to vote.
What happened at the State of the Union was not a departure from his character. It was an extension of it.
For those of us who have seen him in church parking lots, in flood-ravaged neighborhoods, and in policy battles that rarely make headlines, his voice last night was not shocking.
It was steady.
It was deliberate.
It was consistent.
And consistency, especially in defense of dignity, is not attention-seeking.
It is leadership.
