Kansas lawmaker's post says black protester should go 'home'

TOPEKA, Kan. -- A Republican legislator in Kansas criticized a Black Lives Matter supporter's protest while singing the national anthem by posting on Facebook that she should go back "home," then said Tuesday he was defending the military and the American flag.

The comment by state Rep. Joe Seiwert of Pretty Prairie has been taken down, but he confirmed it in interviews with The Topeka Capital-Journal and The Wichita Eagle. It was posted under a meme showing singer Denasia Lawrence kneeling with a headline denouncing "anti-American blacks" and another directing a vulgarity at the Black Lives Matter movement.

"Go back to where you claim home," Seiwert's post said, later adding, "so if they don't like it here, I believe that their freedom completely allows them to go where ever they believe is more fair and non racist."

Lawrence, who is black, knelt to sing the national anthem before an NBA preseason game Friday in Miami. She wore a Black Lives Matter shirt and said in a Facebook posting that she was protesting racial injustice.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/nation-world/national/article110468992.html

Cross-posted in the African American Group.