INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) – A state lawmaker is defending himself after facing criticism for posting a meme on his personal Facebook page.
The meme showed black children celebrating with the caption, "We gon' get free money!"
Many are calling out Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, on his Facebook page, calling the meme racist.
In a response on Facebook Tuesday afternoon, Lucas defends the post writing that he was "bored and made several memes."
"I used this STOCK PHOTO of a little boy dancing and celebrating because the government is handing out free money, to everyone, regardless of their skin color," Lucas wrote on Facebook. "I phrased it in a celebratory way and have danced and mocked things in that exact same manner myself. I’m white. But hey, it’s a picture of a black kid so I guess that makes it different, WHICH IF YOU THINK THAT WAY, IS THE VERY DEFINITION OF RACISM!!!!!!"
One Facebook user commented on Lucas' post writing, "Wow. You don't represent me and the views of my friends and you give Indiana a bad name. How do you not see the racism in this?"
"Oh yeah, that’s not racist at all...🙄🙄" another user commented.
"You are a racist. Grow up," another user commented.
Lucas posted a second response to the post on his Facebook page, which has since been deleted.
"I can’t believe how triggered so many people are today and how many people are just looking to be outraged at a manufactured 'outrage opportunity,'" Lucas said in part.
This is not the first time Lucas has been called out for his posts on social media. Back in August 2019, Lucas posted a picture of nooses under a Facebook story about a black man pleading guilty to rape.
In January 2017, Lucas posted his personal Facebook page, showing a woman getting pepper sprayed at a protest. A caption on the photo read, "Participation trophies, now in liquid form."
Lucas said he’s not a racist.
“This particular picture I used is one that has been used thousands of times on countless different issues,” said Lucas, who was born and raised in Seymour and has represented Indiana’s 69th District since 2012.
Lucas said he got the stock photo from a meme generator and was criticizing the government.
“It was just a tongue-in-cheek meme that I personally made up to mock the fact that government is taxing our children and grandchildren, putting debt on their back to distribute money after they’ve made everybody desperate,” Lucas said.
The post drew mixed reaction on Facebook, with some expressing support for it.
“Jim, you just can’t win, whatever you do. Hang in there. Many support what you do,” read one reaction.
Others called it like they saw it.
“This post is patently racist and inappropriate. I expect much better from an elected official,” it said.
Lucas has refused to apologize.
“I saw this cute, cocky little kid and other people chose to look at the color of the kid’s skin and here we are,” said Lucas. “I don’t see color. Too many people choose to be offended by pretty much anything right now and I refuse to live my life walking on eggshells. I don’t know what it is about the media, but you’re trying to make something out of nothing.”
The Indiana Black Legislative Caucus is calling the post racist.
“There’s no way that someone with that mentality should be making policy about our children in our school system,” said Democratic State Representative Robin Shackleford, who represents Indiana’s 98th district.
Shackleford, chair of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus, along with its members, sent a letter to Speaker Todd Huston calling for Lucas to be removed from his committee positions.
“For him to be unapologetic and just clueless when it comes to what he is actually spreading out there, something has to be done to rectify him being in our statehouse and making state policy,” Shackleford added.
Tuesday afternoon, Lucas posted two new memes using the same “We Gon Get Free Money” line from his original post.
One meme showed a picture of himself wearing an oversized cowboy hat. The other showed white children with missing teeth.
“You go from posting it on African Americans, you get pushback, so you say you don’t see color and then put some white people with missing teeth,” said Shackleford. “None of this is representative of a state representative, none of this behavior we should be accepting and should be acceptable.”
Lucas said the post is being blown out of proportion.
“I think everybody needs to take a deep breath and just slow down and quit trying to be offended by everything, and that’s one of the reasons this country’s so divided right now, and it’s sad,” said Lucas.
Shackleford and the IBLC are calling for members of the General Assembly to undergo sensitivity and bias training.
“The fact that Representative Lucas does not understand, cannot comprehend how discriminating and how racist his pictures are, including the ones he posted right after that one, is just inconceivable,” said Shackleford.