Sen. Tom Cotton is calling on the Justice Department to prosecute people involved in the destruction of statues and monuments across the country.
“We cannot tolerate mob rule, and we cannot allow it to go unpunished,” the Arkansas Republican said Monday. “While local authorities would usually take the lead in prosecuting these crimes, unfortunately, many of them seem unwilling to stand up to the mob and uphold the rule of law.”
“Therefore, I call upon the Department of Justice to bring charges against these mob vigilantes, prosecuting them to the fullest extent of the law,” Cotton said.
Cotton’s remarks come as statues of Confederate figures have been torn down during protests that began after the death of George Floyd. In addition to Confederate memorials, protesters in San Francisco toppled statues commemorating former President Ulysses S. Grant and U.S. national anthem author Francis Scott Key over the weekend.
On Friday, which marked Juneteenth, a statue of Confederate Gen. Albert Pike was torn down by demonstrators in Washington, D.C., as police looked on. Authorities later intervened to extinguish a fire that was set on the then-toppled monument.
“And soon enough, the mob may come for you and your home and your family,” Cotton said in his Monday speech. “Mob rule can only serve to demoralize our people and shake their faith in our government and our way of life. As the mob rises, civilization recedes.”
Protests calling attention to police brutality and systemic racism began in the United States after white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was filmed kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes while Floyd, a black man, pleaded for his life before dying in police custody. All officers involved in the incident have been charged with crimes.
