On MLK Day, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says the unvaccinated face a "new segregation"

Greene has a history of comparing COVID-19 precautions to the policies of Nazi Germany

By Jon Skolnik

Staff Writer

Published January 18, 2022 12:12PM (EST)

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, (R-GA) (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, (R-GA) (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., declared that the unvaccinated face a "new segregation" on Martin Luther King Day, suggesting that the country's treatment of the unvaccinated likens that of racial discrimination against Black Americans. 

"Thanks to the hard work of Rev MLK Jr. and others, growing up in Georgia, I've seen the beautiful fruit that blossomed from the Civil Rights Era, where segregation ended & equality began," Greene wrote in a GETTR post. "Today, I believe we are seeing a new segregation and discrimination beginning, wrongfully forced upon unvaccinated Americans by the tyrants of the Democrat Party."

She added: "Our freedoms come from our Almighty God, and we must not let any man take them away."

Countless cities and states have enforced testing, mask-wearing, and vaccine requirements for admission into certain businesses and venues in a bid to halt the spread of COVID-19. Back in September, President Biden issued a requirement, starting in January 2022, that businesses with 100 employees enforce vaccine mandates or compel their employees to undergo routine testing. But last week, the Supreme Court ruled against Biden's vaccination policy, calling it "a significant encroachment into the lives — and health — of a vast number of employees."

RELATED: The radical right's takeover of the Supreme Court is complete

Greene isn't the only high-profile figure to put King's philosophies of justice in the context of COVID-19. 


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On Monday, Senate candidate Jackson Lahmeyer from Oklahoma tweeted: "Democrats: judge people by the color of their skin, class, gender, pronouns and vaccine status. MLK: judge people by the content of their character. 

"Not exactly on the same page," Lahmeyer added. 

Last November, when asked about his feelings on the NFL's protocols for unvaccinated players,  football quarterback Aaron Rodgers likewise replied, "The great MLK said you have a moral obligation to object to unjust rules and rules that make no sense."

"In my opinion, it makes no sense for me, I test every single day," Rodgers added.

Other Republicans invoked King in their attack on the left's alleged "infiltration" into America's public school system. 

On Monday, newly-elected Virginia Governor Glenn Younkgin issued an executive order forbidding the instruction of forbidding "inherently divisive concepts" like critical race theory. "We must equip our teachers to teach our students the entirety of our history — both good and bad," the order states, "Only then will we realize Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream that our children 'will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

RELATED: How Democrats can win the critical race theory war: Call out the Christian right behind the movement


By Jon Skolnik

Jon Skolnik is a staff writer at Salon. His work has appeared in Current Affairs, The Baffler, and The New York Daily News.

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Marjorie Taylor Greene Mlk Day Nazi Germany