A Republican gubernatorial candidate in Washington state compared the death of George Floyd to Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee shutting down the state during the coronavirus pandemic.
During a Facebook Live event earlier this week, Tim Eyman said Inslee put his knee on the necks of Washington state residents who are unable to work because of the shutdowns.
Floyd, a black man, died last week after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes amid pleas from Floyd that he couldn’t breathe.
“It’s agonizing to sit through because you’re watching something that you should never have to see. After five minutes, he goes three more minutes when the guy wasn’t even moving anymore. They kept that knee on the back of the neck,” Eyman said.
“I can’t help but look at that same situation and not visualizing Jay Inslee with his knee on the back of the necks of 7 million people in the state of Washington. Actually, I take that back. Only the people that Jay Inslee says are not essential does he have the knee on the back of the necks of those people. He’s saying that private businesses, small businesses: ‘All of you, I’m going to put my knee on the back of your neck, and I’m going to hold you down.’ That is exactly what’s going on right now,” he said.
On Thursday, Eyman defended invoking the image of Floyd’s death. Eyman said watching the video of Derek Chauvin, who has been charged with second-degree murder and third-degree manslaughter, made his “blood boil.” But he stood by likening it to the shutdowns.
“I couldn’t help but notice that Jay Inslee is doing a very similar kind of thing in the state of Washington, cause he’s holding down our entire economy, and people are really suffering from that. I think those are the silent killers that are going on right now that’s really frustrating for people to see,” he told a local NBC affiliate.
Eyman denied the comments were tone-deaf.
“I think Jay Inslee’s the one, by declaring a million people, well over a million people, nonessential, I think that’s tone-deaf,” he said.
