Keith Ellison received a note from his mother telling him to take part in the House floor sit-in, and he shared it on social media.
On Wednesday, Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ellison was very busy in a meeting when one of his aides handed him a note. The little message was from psychiatrist Clida Martinez-Ellison, who is the U.S. Representative’s mother. The note read:
“Your mom called and she wants you on the floor!”
Seconds after the message was given to Ellison by the staff, he annulled the meeting and joined the rest of the Democrats on the House floor. They were taking part in the sit-in, to push for action on gun control.
The Democrats are hoping to convince Speaker Paul Ryan to bring the bills to the floor before the House leaves at the end of the week for a planned recess.
So I'm meeting with @keithellison. His scheduler walks in and hands him this note. Meeting ends 🙂 #NoBillNoBreak pic.twitter.com/JwnusZKZuo
— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) June 22, 2016
Ellison, the first Muslim member of Congress, later took to Twitter to confirm that he was participating in the House sit-in, which he deemed was “against Gun violence & Majority’s unwillingness to protect Americans from slaughter.”
Sitting in on House Floor against Gun violence & Majority's unwillingness to protect Americans from slaughter. pic.twitter.com/SvZ5cV45nn
— Rep. Keith Ellison (@keithellison) June 22, 2016
Georgia Congressman John Lewis, who is a civil rights activist, is leading the sit-in with the help of social media after Mr. Ryan removed all of CSPAN cameras from the floor. Mr. Lewis explained his motives:
“Sometimes you have to do something out of the ordinary, sometimes you have to make a way out of no way. There comes a time when you have to say something, when you have to make a little noise, when you have to move your feet. This is the time. Now is the time to get in the way. The time to act is now. We will be silent no more.”
