A Republican lawmaker from Kentucky said the protests that have occurred following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died in police custody, have made him question the American education system.
Rep. Thomas Massie questioned if anyone protesting Floyd’s death was “articulate,” in an interview on WVHU radio Thursday morning, according to Mediaite.
“What we do need nationally is to relook at our educational system,” Massie stated. “I mean, a lot of these protesters, and again, I’m falling victim right now to calling them ‘protesters.’ A lot of them are just violent looters and lawless criminals, at this point, because they’re engaging in violence. But most of them are young, and I just wondered, ‘Who are their parents, and what did they teach them, and how did they get educated to believe that this is an appropriate response?'”
“Contrast it to what Martin Luther King Jr. did. Is there an articulate person among the group who are upset with the way things are going that could step up to a microphone and speak for all the people? I’m not seeing that person,” he added.
Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was accused of using a fake $20 bill to pay for cigarettes at a deli. The police were called, and in their efforts to apprehend him, Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, applied pressure to the back of Floyd’s neck with his knee for nearly nine minutes. Despite pleading that he couldn’t breathe, the officer did not let up until after he had been unresponsive. Floyd was later pronounced dead.
The four officers who were at the scene have been fired and arrested on various charges.
In response to Floyd’s death, protests, both violent and nonviolent, have popped up in cities across the country in response.
