Maxine Waters: We Must Get Rid of ‘Racist, Ignorant, Stupid Cops’
Democrat says 'police reform is not enough'
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Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) said it was a “top priority" to remove “serial, racist, ignorant, & stupid cops."
“Watch the video of the killing of #RayshardBrooks. A senseless & needless killing by a murderous cop!” Waters exclaimed.
“Police reform is NOT ENOUGH."
"Getting rid of serial, racist, ignorant, & stupid cops must be a top priority. Let’s call them out! Police protective unions, you’ve got to go too!”
Watch the video of the killing of #RayshardBrooks. A senseless & needless killing by a murderous cop! Police reform is NOT ENOUGH. Getting rid of serial, racist, ignorant, & stupid cops must be a top priority. Let’s call them out! Police protective unions, you’ve got to go too!
— Maxine Waters (@RepMaxineWaters) June 15, 2020
On Friday, Brooks was killed in a shooting involving a police officer following a response to call of someone sleeping in the drive-thru of a Wendy’s.
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The officers who responded tried to take Brooks into custody after he failed a sobriety test.
But Brooks resisted arrest and gained control of an officer’s taser, before trying to flee the scene.
“Officers pursued Brooks on foot, and during the chase, Brooks turned and pointed the Taser at the officer. The officer fired his weapon, striking Brooks,” GBI reported.
The incident was also confirmed by surveillance footage.
His death was ruled a homicide and triggered chaos in Atlanta as demonstrators took to the streets.
Activists then demanded local leaders defund the police.
“Shame on us. Shame on us. There are no clean hands in this situation. We all are complicit with the oppression of black people,” one activist said.
“She says she’s invested in southwest Atlanta. Put your money where your mouth is. Defund the police and reallocate the resources,” he added.
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On Monday, Bottoms said she intended to sign orders “requiring Atlanta police officers to use only the amount of objectively reasonable force necessary to protect themselves or others to make an arrest or bring someone resisting under control,” CBS News reported.
“As we are taking a look at our use-of-force policy through our task force, it became abundantly clear to me that through my executive power, we need to reiterate our desire that there be de-escalation and not immediate use of force when there are other options that are available,” Bottoms said.
The mayor described Brooks’ death as “so personal to so many people of color.”
“That could have been any one of us,” she said.
“That could be any of our kids or brothers. In this case, it was: It was someone’s father.”
“It didn’t have to end this way,” she added.
“That’s what’s so frustrating.”
Last month, Waters attempted to blame President Donald Trump for the death of George Floyd, who died in police custody.
Appearing on MSNBC Saturday, Waters once again suggested Trump was partly to blame for Floyd's tragic death.
"This president has certainly been responsible for dog-whistling for much of that constituency that empowers him and tells them get tough, and he tells police officers to be rough on those that they arrest."
