Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif) slams Republicans who claims she incited violence with her remarks at a protest in Minnesota over the weekend for 20-year-old Daunte Wright who was killed by police, just a few miles from where officer Derek Chauvin is on trial for the murder of George Floyd.
At Saturday’s protest Waters told the crowd that she backed murder charges against the officer that killed Wright and advised the city against settling for manslaughter charges. She also spoke about the trial of Chauvin telling protesters that she’s hopeful that he will be convicted.
If Chauvin isn’t found guilty, “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,” she added, according to Newsweek.
Republicans, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy accused Waters of inciting violence and controversial Georgia freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene plans to introduce a resolution to expel her from Congress.
“I am nonviolent,” Waters said, in an interview with The Grio adding,“I am not worried that they’re going to continue to distort what I say. This is who they are and this is how they act. And I’m not going to be bullied by them.”
“Republicans will jump on any word, any line and try to make it fit their message and their cause for denouncing us and denying us, basically calling us violent … any time they see an opportunity to seize on a word, so they do it and they send a message to all of the white supremacists, the KKK, the Oath Keepers, the [Proud] Boys and all of that, how this is a time for [Republicans] to raise money on [Democrats] backs,” Waters said.
“This is a time for [Republicans] to keep telling our constituents that [Democrats] are the enemy and they do that time and time again. But that does not deter me from speaking truth to power. I am not intimidated. I am not afraid, and I do what needs to be done,” she added.
Waters also clarified what she meant when she told protesters to “get more confrontational”.
“I talk about confronting the justice system, confronting the policing that’s going on, I’m talking about speaking up,” she said. “I’m talking about legislation. I’m talking about elected officials doing what needs to be done to control their budgets and to pass legislation.”
