I hadn’t hear this, so it may be old news to some, but U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, D-NC, has joined three black congressmen who claim they heard the N-word used as members of Congress made their way to the Capitol on March 20 through a large group of Tea Party protesters:

A fourth Democrat, Rep. Heath Shuler of North Carolina, who is white, backed up his colleagues, telling the Henderson (N.C.) Times-News that he heard the slurs.

So far, no video has been offered to substantiate the charge, made originally by congressmen John Lewis and Emanuel Cleaver, even though many of the members present were videoing the event. This has led to charges that the walk was designed to provoke a response that could be termed racist.

I haven’t seen Shuler in any of the videos that show Lewis, Cleaver and Andre Carson, the ones who said they were spit upon and had the N-word used against them, so I’m not sure how to gauge his credibility as a witness.

Just for clarification, the Times-News is located in Henderson County and is published in Hendersonville, not in the town of Henderson, which is in Vance County.