Rep. Maxine Waters says those criticizing her recent rhetoric about former police officer Derek Chauvin would leave her without conduits to express her dissent when “police keep killing us.”
Waters said her critics get “mad” when her followers kneel, speak up, or protest, leaving activists with little recourse.
“What is it that they expect us to do when police keep killing us?” she tweeted Saturday night.
If we take a knee, they’re mad. If we speak up like I do, they’re mad. If we protest like Martin Luther King Jr. taught us to do, they’re mad. What is it that they expect us to do when police keep killing us?
— Maxine Waters (@RepMaxineWaters) April 25, 2021
The California Democrat attracted controversy when she demanded Chauvin be found “guilty, guilty, guilty” in the killing of Floyd following an arrest in Minneapolis last May.
“We’re looking for a guilty verdict,” she told a crowd of protesters last Saturday. “And we’re looking to see if all of the talk that took place and has been taking place after they saw what happened to George Floyd, if nothing does not happen, then we know that we’ve got to not only stay in the street, but we’ve got to fight for justice.”
BIDEN AND WATERS COMMENTS COULD HELP CHAUVIN DURING APPEAL
Her remarks drew condemnation from Judge Peter Cahill, who presided over Chauvin’s Minneapolis trial. Cahill said Waters’s comments over the weekend demanding a guilty verdict for Chauvin could result in the trial being overturned.
“I’ll give you that Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned,” Cahill said in response to comments by a defense attorney.
Waters dismissed Cahill’s concerns.
“The judge says my words don’t matter,” the California Democrat repeatedly said, according to CNN‘s Manu Raju.
When pressed on the judge’s observation that Waters’s comments could be grounds for an appeal, Waters replied, “Oh, no, no, they didn’t.”
Republicans also condemned Waters’s calls for demonstrators to get “confrontational.” A motion to censure the California Democrat for the comments came up just short, failing 216-210 in a party-line vote on Tuesday. Democrats defended Waters, saying her comments were taken “out of context” and were not inciting violence.
On Tuesday, the Minnesota jury convicted Chauvin of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. He could face up to 40 years in prison.
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Floyd died after being arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin, a 45-year-old white man, was seen placing his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes as Floyd, who was black, repeatedly said he could not breathe.
Cahill said Chauvin’s sentencing trial would take place in eight weeks. The defense team can still file an appeal, which would then lead to a second trial.
