Rep. Maxine Waters drew a connection between the killing of an unarmed black man by police in Minneapolis this week and President Trump’s conduct.
“My first thought was not again, not one more killing,” Waters said this week in a video obtained by TMZ. “And I’m reflecting on all of the killings of young black men in particular, but of course black women too, at the hands of the police and at the hands of, you know, these white supremacists.”
Waters, a Democrat from California, continued: “And I’m thinking about the way that the president conducts himself. In a way, he’s dog whistling, and I think that they’re feeling that they can get away with this kind of treatment. And I’m just so sorry about the loss of another life.”
On Monday, 46-year-old George Floyd died while in police custody after officers responded to a call of someone using counterfeit money to make a purchase at a convenience store.
Video from the scene shows one officer holding his knee down on Floyd’s neck while Floyd pleads with the officer to get off and tells him he can’t breathe.
The four officers involved in the call were all fired Wednesday, and the city’s mayor has asked the local prosecutor to file murder charges against the policeman who knelt on Floyd’s neck.
“I think that the officer who had his knee on his neck enjoyed doing what he was doing,” Waters said. “I believe sometime some of these officers leave home thinking, ‘I’m going to get me one today.’ And I think this is his one that he got today.”
“The justice system does not work, because the justice system will find a way to protect those offices in most cases,” Waters continued. “They will find justifiable homicide. And that’s what we’ve got to deal with. We’ve got to deal with the fact that we’re in America with a justice system that does not work for everybody.”
The incident has sparked massive protests in Minneapolis and other major cities across the country, some of which have led to looting and burning of the American flag and other buildings.
Local officials in Minneapolis have called in the National Guard as more demonstrations are expected in the coming days.
*story by The Washington Examiner