Representative Maxine Waters has always been the mouth that roared — and her constituents in southern Los Angeles and Torrance, CA love her for it. They’ve sent her back to the House every other year since 1991.
So when she talked to protestors on April 17th at Brooklyn Center, the site of Daunte Wright’s killing during a traffic stop, it was no surprise that she came up with highly quotable, highly controversial comments.
According to Dave Orrick of TwinCities. com, which carefully reviewed the event tapes, Ms. Waters’s controversial statements were made not to protesters directly, but to newspeople after she gave a short speech. One reporter asked what protesters should do if Derek Chauvin, the cop who killed George Floyd by kneeling on his neck, was found not guilty.
The question, repeated, was shorter: “What should protesters do?” Waters may not have heard the entire question.
She said, “We’ll, we’ve got to stay on the street. And we’ve got to get more active. We’ve got to get more confrontational. We’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business.”
Aaaand Holy Saint Patrick, did the Republicans take a long, long, run with that ball. Many Republican politicians were shocked—shocked that the 82-year-old congresswoman would call for violence!
Waters effectively waved the comments away as attempts at fundraising. She said she wasn’t going to let Republicans bully her.
Nancy Pelosi announced that Waters had nothing to apologize for. Waters had spoken within a civil rights tradition.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is nothing if not hypocritical, vowed that she would introduce a bill to expel Waters from Congress.
Never mind that Waters had called for confrontation against Trump minions in 2018. Greene doesn’t remember, it seems, that there was no move to expel her — but Greene bows to none in outrage.
The single most serious hissy fit came from the judge presiding over Chauvin’s trial, who said Waters’ words could be grounds for a mistrial on appeal. The judge was seriously ticked off.
In any case, Ms. Waters isn’t playing a game. She said what she said, and there’s no walking it back. For Waters, there never has been.
Do you think Waters was encouraging violence? Should she be censured?
TwinCities.com: “What Rep. Maxine Waters Really Said...” by Dave Orrick
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