Sen. Mitt Romney walked alongside hundreds of evangelical protesters against police brutality and systemic racism to the White House.
The Utah Republican joined Christian demonstrators, who marched to the White House and Capitol building, on Sunday, during which hymns rang out, protesters carried signs displaying Bible quotes and “Black Lives Matter,” and many marchers stopped and prayed.
Romney told reporters present that he joined the march “to find a way to end violence and brutality and to make sure that people understand that black lives matter.”
.@MittRomney is marching with a group of nearly 1,000 Christians to the White House. Here he is on video saying why he’s walking: “… to make sure that people understand that Black Lives Matter” https://t.co/KCxJNchCMs pic.twitter.com/Za0Am2WL8g
— Hannah Natanson (@hannah_natanson) June 7, 2020
Mitt Romney, marching down Penn Ave towards the White House, with about 1000 mostly evangelical protesters. They’re chanting “black lives matter!” and singing “This little light of mine” @MittRomney pic.twitter.com/Zj8HHpBDoX
— Michelle Boorstein (@mboorstein) June 7, 2020
Black Lives Matter. pic.twitter.com/JpXUFlxH2J
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) June 7, 2020
Protests have spread worldwide following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died in Minnesota police custody last month after a white officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Romney, who will not support President Trump’s reelection bid this November, on Saturday, invoked his late father George Romney by reflecting on the former Michigan governor’s participation in a Civil Rights march in the suburbs of Detroit in the late 1960s in a tweet.
“This is my father, George Romney, participating in a Civil Rights march in the Detroit suburbs during the late 1960s—’Force alone will not eliminate riots,'” he wrote. ‘We must eliminate the problems from which they stem.’”
This is my father, George Romney, participating in a Civil Rights march in the Detroit suburbs during the late 1960s—“Force alone will not eliminate riots,” he said. “We must eliminate the problems from which they stem.” pic.twitter.com/SzrcAyfPD8
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) June 6, 2020
The junior senator has called Floyd’s death “abhorrent.” Derek Chauvin, the officer captured on video arresting Floyd for allegedly trying to use a counterfeit $20 bill, has been charged with second-degree murder. Three other officers involved in his arrest are facing charges of aiding and abetting murder.
Trump took heat from some Washington, D.C., religious leaders last week after protesters were forcibly cleared outside the White House ahead of his visit to St. John’s Episcopal Church, which caught on fire last weekend after demonstrations in the city turned violent.
