'It's sickening': Indiana Republican faces furious backlash over racist Facebook post about Black children

On Tuesday, The Indianapolis Starreported that GOP state Rep. Jim Lucas is under fire for a racist depiction of Black children in a Facebook post.

Lucas' post depicted dancing African-American children above the caption, "We gon' get free money!"

"It makes me want to cry. And that's the truth," said Jeannine Lee Lake, an African-American Democratic congressional candidate running against Rep. Greg Pence. "I'm just amazed. He's a leader in our state. This is not Indiana. It's not the best of Indiana certainly. And it's sickening."

"Reached this morning on his cell phone, Lucas, R-Seymour, said he doesn't see color and doesn't believe his post was racist," reported Chris Sikich. "He's said he created the meme Monday night to protest federal bailouts that have created more debt for future generations. He happened to find a picture of black kids dancing in the meme generator, he said, but could have just as easily chosen a photo with white kids."

Lucas also reportedly said the dialect in the caption is simply how he and others in the area talk, saying, "I don’t see anything wrong with it. People who want to find racism are going to find racism in anything."

But this is not the first time Lucas has faced controversy over racist social media posts. Last August, he came under fire for posting an image of a noose under a story about a Black man convicted of rape.

Ironically, Lucas has also blamed sexual assault survivors for their own attacks, writing a letter to a newspaper arguing that women should take responsibility for preventing rapes by carrying firearms.