Black House Democrats Lead Walkout During Holder Contempt Vote Black lawmakers led a throng of House Democrats in a walkout Thursday during the vote to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt of Congress. With members of the Congressional Black Caucus leading the way, more than 100 Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader, quietly left the House chamber during the voting. They gathered in a circle on the lawn outside the Capitol for a news conference. "We are nonparticipants in what we believe to be a calamity," said Representative Emanuel Cleaver II, Democrat of Missouri and chairman of the black caucus. This is a terrible day for the House of Representatives. We did not want to participate in something that had some kind of a smell to it. Representative Charlie Gonzalez, Democrat of Texas and chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said: "We stand united. We understand that Congress has the right to conduct oversight - this is not about the right of Congress to perform oversight. This is about the responsibility and duty of Congress to do it in a way that is fair and just. In a Facebook message before the vote, Representative Allen B. West, a Florida Republican who has been at odds before with the black caucus, accused caucus members "and other liberal members of Congress" of judging Mr. Holder "by the color of his skin, and not by the content of his character." "I am disappointed my colleagues would rather engage in a political stunt to distract the American people from knowing the truth behind the attorney general's disregard of the law and disrespect of congressional oversight to provide requested documents," Mr. West wrote. During the walkout, Representative Steny H. Hoyer, the minority whip, said: "This is not about race." Mr. Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, said: "The reason we have walked down those stairs and into this courtyard is to call the attention of the American people, who are angry about confrontation, angry about gridlock, angry about the fact that we are not focused on their priorities: jobs, investment infrastructure, the environment, education, innovation, building our economy."