Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX) wrote in an USA Today op-ed published Sunday that “some Americans” think the Republican Party “condones racism.”

Hurd, the son of a black father and a white mother, wrote in the op-ed that “it is unfortunate that more than 50 years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death, the House of Representatives, a body that I have the honor of serving in, had to have a vote condemning white supremacy in response to the idiotic comments of one of our own.”

Those “idiotic comments” came from Rep. Steve King (R-IA), who wondered aloud to the New York Times in an article published earlier this month: “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?”

The resolution condemning white supremacy passed in response to King’s comments was approved 424-1, with Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) voting against the measure because he believed King deserved to be censured, a harsher penalty.

“As a Republican, I believe it’s unfortunate that a perception still exists in the minds of some Americans that the GOP condones racism,” Hurd wrote. “Our party was built upon the beliefs of President Abraham Lincoln, who took the significant step to put us on the long path for equality. Sadly, some people affiliated with our party have made racist comments that give legitimacy to hateful ideologies.”

Citing Martin Luther King Jr., the federal holiday honoring whom will be observed Monday, Hurd wrote: “When people start believing that the average Republican holds these [loud and unconscionable beliefs of a few], then every Republican suffers by association.”

Read the full op-ed here.