Joy Reid nails the difference between white and Black people after Capitol riots
'White Americans are never afraid of the cops,' Reid said, 'even when they are committing insurrection.'
In a powerful speech on MSNBC during the network’s coverage of Wednesday’s turmoil in Washington D.C., Joy Reid drew a clear comparison between the police response to the insurrection at the national capitol and this summer’s national protests in support of Black lives.
“These people were so unafraid of the cops,” Reid opined in the clip — which immediately went viral on Twitter — “who were sparsely distributed through our Capitol, which hasn’t been breached since 1812, when it was burned.”
The Capitol Building was burned in 1814 during the War of 1812.
“The reason they could film themselves throwing things around the walls of our Capitol, our property, go inside the Capitol, sit at Speaker Pelosi’s desk, taking pictures of themselves, have that played on Fox News… they know that they are not in jeopardy,” said the host of MSNBC’s weekday show, The ReidOut.
“The cops are taking selfies with them, walking them down the steps to make sure that they are not hurt. Taking care with their bodies. Not like they treated Freddie Gray’s body,” Reid noted, referencing the 2015 death of Gray who, at 25, died from injuries sustained in the custody of Baltimore police.
“White Americans aren’t afraid of the cops,” said Reid. “White Americans are never afraid of the cops, even when they are committing insurrection, even when they are engaged in attempting to occupy our capitol to steal the votes of people who look like me, because in their mind, they own this capitol; they own the cops.”
Read More: Several Trump admin officials resign following Capitol siege
“And people like me have no damn right to try to elect a president,” she continued. “They get to pick the president. They own the president. They own that house. They own this country.”
“So when you think you own the place, you ain’t afraid of the police. And the police reflect back to you, ‘we’re with you…you’re good. Because you’re not them,’” she said.
Read More: 4 dead, 52 arrested after violent mob storm Capitol, DC police say
Reid concluded her dialogue with what reporters and many Americans have echoed since yesterday: “I guarantee if that was a Black Lives Matter protest, there would be people shackled, arrested or dead.”
She pointedly called out several Black Lives Matter activists, saying that they could recount their experiences being arrested by officers amid peaceful protests.
“They aren’t afraid of the cops,” Reid concluded, “because they know the cops are cool with it.”
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