Rep. Chip Roy Walks Back ‘Rope’ and ‘Tree’ Comments: No, He Does Not Support Lynching or Vigilante Justice

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article belong solely to the author.

Is there space in our current political atmosphere for words that are awkward or ill-timed, but not intended to be hateful? Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) is about to find out.

Roy got a lot of attention on Thursday for comments he made during a House hearing on violence against Asian Americans that some interpreted as endorsing lynching. “All Americans deserve protection and to live in a free and secure society,” said Roy, referring to the victims of the Atlanta mass shootings deserving justice.

“There’s old sayings in Texas about find all the rope in Texas and get a tall oak tree,” he continued. “You know, we take justice very seriously, and we ought to do that. Round up the bad guys. That’s what we believe.”

CNN made Roy’s comments the focus of the opening segments of both The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, and again an hour later on Out Front with Erin Burnett, and then once more with Anderson Cooper on AC360.

Roy, said Blitzer at the top of his show, “is being accused of ‘putting a bullseye on the back of Asians in the United States.’ Congressman Chip Roy stunned many of his colleagues by talking about lynchings and slamming China during a hearing on anti-Asian hate.”

The Texas congressman objected to what he viewed as an effort by some members of Congress to “police free speech,” CNN reported, before playing Roy’s comments criticizing the Chinese Communist party.

Numerous Democrats criticized Roy, including Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY), who accused him of “putting a bull-eye on the back of Asian Americans.”

Roy defended his remarks earlier in a message to this reporter:

“Apparently some folks are freaking out that I used an old expression about finding all the rope in Texas and a tall oak tree about carrying out justice against bad guys. I meant it. We need more justice and less thought police. We need to stop evil doers – such as those who carried out the attack in Atlanta this week, or cartels abusing little children, or those who kill our cops on the streets. We should restore order by tamping out evil actors… not turn America into an authoritarian state like the Chinese Communists who seek to destroy us. No apologies.”

As Mediaite’s Aidan McLaughlin noted, the phrase about “finding all the rope in Texas and a tall oak tree” is an old saying, and was used in Toby Keith’s 2003 song “Beer For My Horses.” Keith received similar criticism as Roy, being accused of endorsing lynching and racism.

“The song was a hit and the words ‘lynch’ and ‘racism’ has never come up until this moron wrote this blog,” Keith said in response at the time. “It’s about the old West and horses and sheriffs…and going and getting the bad guys. It’s not a racist thing or about lynching.”

Keith also starred in a 2008 movie of the same name. From the online plot summaries of the film, Keith’s character was a deputy sheriff squaring off against members of a Mexican drug cartel who have kidnapped his ex-girlfriend. He and his fellow deputy are pretty clearly operating outside the rules, but also pretty clearly going after some known criminals, whom they turn over to the FBI for prosecution. They don’t actually hang ’em high from any trees.

Roy’s defense of his comments followed a similar tone as Keith, intending to be directed against the “evil doers,” the “bad guys.” At no point during his comments did he suggest that Asian Americans should be lynched, but the issues are getting very convoluted in the reporting today.

Reached for comment for a second time this afternoon, this reporter asked Roy to clarify that he did not support hanging, lynching, or otherwise assaulting Asian Americans, did not support vigilante justice, and agreed that the accused Atlanta shooter was entitled to a fair trial. Roy replied “Correct” to all three inquiries.

Referring to Keith’s song, Roy added that the point he was making was “old school, non-racial justice” and about the “Wild West,” not intended as any call for anyone to actually be lynched.

“It’s a metaphor,” Roy continued. “People need to chill out.”

When asked about the CNN coverage, Roy replied, “That’s OK. I am getting coverage on a point that’s important. We should stop policing speech.”

Was today the best day to make a point about the many bad deeds of the Chinese Communist government? Probably not. But that’s not the same thing as Roy actually endorsing lynching, or specifically calling for hate crimes against Asian Americans.

The bad acts of the Chinese Communist Party are the fault of the Chinese Communist Party, not all Chinese people — in China 0r America or anywhere in the world. Asian Americans are certainly not at fault.

There are very fair criticisms to make that Roy should have “read the room” at a hearing specifically focused on anti-Asian violence and found another time and place for his comments about China and free speech — but, well, isn’t that kind of the point of free speech? That you’re free to speak when and how you wish? Criticize Roy for being yet another member of Congress to take his turn at the microphone to opine on his own topic instead of the issue at hand. Criticize him for bad or heartless timing.

But it is inaccurate to conflate Roy’s comments with the year of inflammatory “Chinese virus” and “Kung flu” comments by former President Donald Trump, and wildly unfair to suggest Roy supports hate crimes against Asian Americans.

Roy’s words were awkward and poorly timed. But they weren’t hateful.

Watch the video above, via CNN.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.