Natalie McLendon, Louisiana Illuminator

Election-denier Clay Higgins 'not concerned' with possible House censure over racist post

JENNINGS — Congressman Clay Higgins says he isn’t worried about his colleagues in the House of Representatives casting an official vote to censure him for inflammatory remarks he made about Haitians on social media last month.

The Republican from Lafayette, who’s seeking a fifth term representing Louisiana’s 3rd Congressional District in the Nov. 5 election, appeared at a town hall meeting Wednesday and spoke to the Illuminator about the controversy.

He also addressed the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol with event attendees at the Friends Supporting Friends Event Center, attributing the uprising to “weird little groups.”

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

Once the House reconvenes after the election, Higgins could face censure over a now-deleted post on X, formerly Twitter about Haitian immigrants. Democrats and a few Republicans have criticized the post written on Higgins’ official account, calling his statement racist.

“Lol. These Haitians are wild,” Higgins wrote. “Eating pets, vudu [sic], nastiest country in the western hemisphere, cults, slapstick gangsters … but damned if they don’t feel all sophisticated now, filing charges against our President and VP.

“All these thugs better get their mind right and their ass out of our country before January 20th,” the congressman concluded, noting the day the next U.S. president will be sworn into office.

Leading calls for the censure vote was Congressional Black Caucus chairman Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nevada. The House action doesn’t carry any actual punishment beyond potential public relations stigma.

“I’m not concerned about that,” Higgins told the Illuminator. “The media has attacked me for nine years now. It’s like a feeding frenzy. My life doesn’t revolve around that. Some of my colleagues have been out of line. I know the man I am and the people I serve. I’m not saying an unkind word about anybody. I don’t have malice in my heart about that.”

Higgins, a former law enforcement officer, has repeatedly refused to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election, referring to Donald Trump as “rPOTUS,” short for the real President of the United States, on social media.

At the Jennings town hall, he discussed what he described as the “compromised election cycle of November 2020.”

“We may never know the full truth of what happened leading up to Election Day in 2020 in the wee hours of the morning on the day following Election Day in six of our sovereign states,” he said. “But a reasonable man can look at what happened and come to a very sober conclusion that it appeared to be coordinated election corruption.”

Higgins was among the Republicans who voted against certifying the election results in favor of Joe Biden on Jan. 6, 2021 — a process that was delayed when Trump supporters breached Capitol security in an effort to thwart the certification vote.

In the midst of the mayhem, Higgins did call on protestors to end their assault on Capitol.

“Violence and lawlessness are unacceptable. This must end now. This is not American,” Higgins said on Twitter.

Higgins told the audience in Jennings that Trump’s rally at the White House Ellipse on Jan. 6 was “very emotionally uplifting and very patriotic, with people singing patriotic songs, holding hands, hugging, and crying.”

As the rally dispersed, many of its attendees joined those converging on the Capitol.

“Then you had these weird little groups, guys in tactical gear saying some outrageous things,” Higgins said. “They were not Three Percenters, and they were not Oath Keepers. They were not some of those guys. They were like weird little groups. There were camera crews that seemed to be working with those groups.”

The Three Percenters are an anti-government and gun rights group that takes its name from the questionable claim that members of the Continental Army accounted for only 3% of the 13 colonies’ population in the American Revolution. Higgins has referenced the Three Percenters in his appeals to gain support for his conservative views, even though the group has been linked to violent attacks and white supremacy. Members of the Three Percenters were convicted for their involvement in the Jan. 6 riots, and their leadership was dismantled afterward.

Leaders of the Oath Keepers, including founder Stewart Rhodes, were convicted for seditious conspiracy for their actions before and on Jan. 6. The group is a quasi-militia that aims to bring down a purported shadow government.

Without providing supporting evidence, Higgins continues to maintain federal law enforcement was involved in the Jan. 6 insurgency attempt at the Capitol. There were two white buses “filled with FBI agents, bottom line,” on the National Mall that day, he told the Jennings crowd.

“There were about 60 on those two buses,” Higgins said. “But there were a couple hundred of assets, human assets. To say they were FBI agents, the media will grab that. Let’s not get buried in the details.”

The congressman also made vague statements regarding a “a confidential informant, a field agent, a contracted agent, or a full-time FBI agent, talking about the guys that were working for the FBI that day.”

“I have a ton of evidence about that, but the media, oh the media, sometimes they’re paid to hate me,” Higgins added.

Higgins is heavily favored to win reelection in the 3rd District, which stretches from southwest Louisiana to the bayou parishes. He faces two Democrats — Priscilla Gonzales of Lafayette and Sadi Summerlin of Westlake — a fellow Republican Xan John of Lafayette.

Congress returns from its election season recess Nov. 12.

Correction: This article was updated to reflect that Higgins did not participate in an Oath Keepers event in June 2017, though his name was used in connection with the even without his permission, according to communications director.

Holding the powerful accountable

If you want to see more stories like this, be sure to support the ongoing work of the Louisiana Illuminator.

SUPPORT

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on Facebook and X.

Neighbors shocked woman whose complaint led to Emmett Till’s death lived quietly nearby

WESTLAKE — Emmett Till was lynched as a child, and his horrific death sparked the nation’s move toward the Civil Rights era. Carolyn Bryant Donham, the woman whose accusation led to Till’s death, lived a long life that came to a quiet end last week — much to the surprise and disgust of some Calcasieu Parish residents.

Down a shady winding road on the outskirts of Westlake, a small group gathered outside Donham’s home Wednesday evening to hold a vigil in remembrance of the life of Emmett Till. Although there was a vehicle in the home’s driveway, no one came out.

Till was 14 years old when he was murdered on Aug. 28, 1955, after Donham claimed he made lewd remarks while they were inside a grocery store in Money, Mississippi. Three days later, Till’s body was found in the Tallahatchie River about 20 miles away.

Lake Charles resident and teacher Renee Carthan is related to Emmett Till through Mamie Carthan Till, Emmett’s mother. Renee’s great-great-grandfather was a cousin of John Nash Carthan, Mamie’s father.

“The Carthans were a tight-knit bunch and after that incident, everybody kind of spread out across the country,” Carthan told the group outside Donham’s home. “I have to wonder, as I stand here, if the trajectory of my life would have been different had this not happened.”

“To know that my whole life, these stories I was told and the cautions we were warned about, and this big bad wolf that kind of loomed over me and every other member of my family, just to end up a couple of miles down the road,” Carthan said. “I’ve been wrestling with that since this came out, and I honestly don’t know how to put my feelings into words.”

Calcasieu Parish property records show the home near Westlake was purchased April 20, 2023, by Thomas Bryant, Donham’s son. Carolyn Bryant Donham died April 25 under hospice care for long-standing kidney disease, according to a Calcasieu Parish Coroner’s report. She was 88.

It’s not known how long Donham had lived in the area, and those taking part in the vigil weren’t aware until recently she lived in Calcasieu Parish.

“My theory is since she knew the end was coming. She wanted to be here to be buried with her son,” Carthan told the Illuminator. Donham’s older son, Roy Bryant Jr., died in 1995 and is buried in nearby Vinton, where the Bryant family lived from the 1960s to 1973.

“It’s not just us who are emotional about this,” Carthan said. “To know that someone who could be capable of telling a lie so horrendous, and associating with people that would do something so brutal could live here safely and have a successful life in my backyard, when I see brilliant inspiring people struggle everyday, it’s a lot to wrestle with.”

Carthan said her relatives told her Emmett Till whistled at times to help his speech impediment.

“It wasn’t like he was whistling at (Donham),” she said. “For that to be construed that way was insane, but even now that has evolved.”

In an interview that aired earlier Wednesday on Lake Charles radio station KZWA-FM, Westlake Mayor Hal McMillin stressed that Donham did not live within his city’s limits.

“We would all hate to know that she was in southwest Louisiana at all,” McMillin said “This is a very tragic thing that happened back in 1955. This is 2023 now and I am thrilled at our culture now. I want to tell you a little about Westlake, we are a melting pot.”

McMillin was unable to attend the Wednesday evening vigil.

“But my heart will be there,” he said in the radio interview, “because I care about our community, and I care about things getting healed up. I just hate old scabs that you have almost healed over and you’re trying to grow and things are developing better, then she ends up in our area. I don’t want her in our area, I don’t want her to stain southwest Louisiana.”

Roishetta Ozane, executive director of the Vessel Project and co-organizer of the vigil, typically hosts events on environmental justice. She said she hoped the vigil outside Donham’s home could provide some level of closure.

“We’re never going to be able to see justice served to her,” Ozane told attendees. ”The ultimate justice is that she’s no longer here. People are going to remember Emmett Till forever.”

Ozane questioned McMillin’s claim that Westlake is a melting pot.

“No, racism is still happening, Hal,” Ozane said. “I don’t know what you don’t see. Westlake schools are predominantly white, all of the teachers are white. The (Black) kids don’t have anybody to identify with. What can we take from this?”

Ozane’s daughter, Kameah, 10, was also present at the vigil.

“I’m here for Emmett Till,” Kameah Ozane said. “It’s sad because she lied about how Emmett Till whistled at her. They took his life and she got to live here peacefully.”

Calcasieu resident and civil rights attorney Pam Spees also took part in the vigil. She wasn’t raised with knowledge of Emmett Till, she said, but remembers the shock when she learned as an adult about his death.

“I feel a responsibility to people and the world and feel that this has brought Emmett closer to here,” Spees said “….We are living in a moment where there are forces trying to tear away this history to make sure that nobody else learns about it. That’s why it’s important to be here in this place and to honor Emmett Till’s memory.”

Carthan told the Illuminator there is some sense of closure and justice after the passing of Carolyn Bryant Donham.

“I remember being told not to leave the porch, not to leave the yard when I was younger,” she said. “Once I got older, I understood more and resolved that I would not let this control me. I am proud to say that I am from the same bloodline that inspired the strength of Mamie Till. The things that she did in the face of that situation is huge.”

The vigil closed with a prayer, amid murmurings the group should leave the area before sundown.

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on Facebook and Twitter.