Stacey Abrams said she has not joined the protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death because she doesn’t want to be a distraction.
“I appreciate the instinct of leaders to join in these protests, but too often, our presence distracts from their message,” Abrams, who unsuccessfully ran to be the governor of Georgia, told CNN in an interview Thursday night.
Abrams, who is under consideration to be Joe Biden’s vice presidential running mate, said she’s instead supporting protesters by helping secure bail funds and lawyers.
“I understand the instinct to be there. But having been on the other side, having been an activist and a protester, I have a very visceral reaction, and my conscience tells me I need to stay out of the way and let the attention focus on the demonstrators,” she said.
As a college student, Abrams helped lead protests after Los Angeles police officers were acquitted in the beating of Rodney King, a black construction worker, in 1992.
Floyd, an unarmed black man, died last week after a white police officer in Minneapolis pressed a knee to his neck for more than nine minutes. Floyd lost consciousness and was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
