GOP Rep. Jason Lewis: Black People Have ‘Entitlement Mentality,’ Warned Of White Victims In ‘Racial War’

Rep. Jason Lewis once claimed on his talk radio show that African-Americans have an “entitlement mentality.” Audio revealed that Lewis talked about black-on-white violence and pushed claims of a “racial war.”

The GOP lawmaker also claimed violence regularly occurs at black gatherings, such as celebratory festivals.

Minnesota Rep. Jason Lewis made the comments during a syndicated radio program he hosted from 2009 until 2014, in an audio clip unearthed by CNN.

Among his racially charged claims, Lewis said that welfare is worse than Jim Crow for African-Americans. He also described African Americans and Hispanics as being “addicted” to welfare.

“A hundred years of racism could not break it up, it could not destroy black families. Jim Crow could not do it. But what dependency has done, is has caused unwanted pregnancy, illegitimacy.”

The congressman added.

“…Large swaths of Hispanic communities, black communities are addicted to these, these subsidies.”

The congressman said black people view themselves as victims, later claiming that white people are the real victims of racial violence.

“Racial violence is all the media rage, but the elephant in the living room is they have it wrong. The real victims of most racial violence are not members of the minorities in America. They are white people,” CNN reported, and said the Minnesota congressman made these claims on his radio show.

However, CNN notes that the Bureau of Justice statistics showed that the rates of black-on-white violent crime and white-on-black crime between the years 2012 and 2015 were very similar, also noting that in most violent crimes during the said years, the victims and offenders were mostly of the same race.

This comes after the Lewis complained about not being able to refer to women who take “a series of lovers” as “sluts.”

In response to CNN, Lewis touts his record as a congressman and claims to have been taken out of context.

“If you’re trying to suggest that that somehow I’ve got these horrible attitudes or because you were engaged in a provocative radio talk show, even though your record in Congress is very mainstream — Gov Track, puts me as a moderate.”

A Republican facing a closely contested House re-election race in November. Lewis narrowly won Minnesota’s 2nd District in 2016 by 2 points. It is unclear how the newly released audio will affect his reelection odds. The Republican is considered to be in one of the toughest races among House Republicans in the midterm election.

Lewis is a Trump ally and has voted in line with the President’s position in 94 percent of votes.