Grothman Called Kwanzaa A Fraud And Said It Should Be "Slapped Down." According to the Cap Times, Grothman issued a press release in December 2012 asking "why hard-core left wingers" were "still trying to talk about Kwanzaa" and called for the holiday to be "slapped down once and for all." He dismissed the African-American cultural observance as something "almost no black people today care about" and accused "white left-wingers" of trying to "shove this down black people's throats in an effort to divide America." [Cap Times, 12/28/12]
Grothman Said Democrats Were Sticking With Kamala Harris "Because Of Her Ethnic Background." According to The Hill, Grothman told CBS-58 in Wisconsin that he believed "a lot of Democrats feel they have to stick with her because of her ethnic background." When pressed on the comments, Grothman said, "I don't think people view her as Black." House Republican leadership held a closed-door meeting scolding members for making race-based attacks on Harris. [Hill, 7/22/24]
Grothman Called Planned Parenthood "The Most Racist Organization" In The Country. According to HuffPost, Grothman told the Voice of Christian Youth America that Planned Parenthood is "the most racist organization" in the nation and has a tradition of "not liking people who are not white," citing the locations of clinics in communities of color as evidence. [HuffPost, 2/7/13]
Grothman Called Martin Luther King Jr. Day "An Insult" To Taxpayers. According to PolitiFact, Grothman insisted that public employees should work on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, saying "giving government employees [time] off has nothing to do with honoring Martin Luther King Day and it's just about giving state employees another day off." [PolitiFact, 11/17/14]