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A 2017 video of Georgia Senator-elect Rev. Raphael Warnock being arrested for praying in other Capitol Rotunda has resurfaced, exposing a racial double standard.
In the video, Warnock, along with members of the Capitol clergy, were arrested for praying against budget cuts republicans were implementing.
2017 in The Capitol Clergy were Peacefully protesting budget cuts by kneeling and singing hymns They were arrested, among them is Senator-Elect Raphael Warnock?? #maddow #CapitolBuilding pic.twitter.com/VykcOJFHy2
— Kikkay (@NikkisBubble) January 8, 2021
“As a pastor, I believe the national budget is not just a fiscal document but a moral document. It reflects what we believe and who we are, for one another,” Warnock said at the time, according to Newsweek. “And if this mean spirited budget were an EKG, it would indicate that America has a heart condition. The government is taking student aid, job training, and medicine from those who need it most in order to give a tax cut to those who need it least. We came to Washington as voices of healing and justice.”
Now, many are comparing Warnock’s arrest to the way White protesters were treated during the storm on the Capitol last week. The largely white mob was not only able to walk up to the Capitol by thee thousands and enter, but stayed for hours, making themselves comfortable while more than 100 lawmakers were forced to hide in a room.
The storm pales in comparison to George Floyd, who was accused of using a counterfeit bill before being chocked to death. It’s also a bad look when compared to Breonna Taylor, who was sleeping in her home when Louisville Metro Police broke in looking for someone who wasn’t in the residence and shot Taylor five times.
It’s these actions that led to a summer of Black Lives Matter protests across the nation and the world. Many believed what last week’s actions showed is that White Americans get treated differently by cops. What makes it even worse is those who stormed the Capitol, who showed no respect for police and Republican lawmakers, have disrespected police on several occasions since last week. On Tuesday, multiple media members tweeted that a group of Republican lawmakers refused to go through metal detectors installed in the Capitol after the attack and Rep. Lauren Boebert refused to show Capitol police what was in her bag after she set the detector off.
Even President-elect Joe Biden noticed the stark difference between BLM protests this summer and the lack of the same aggressive law enforcement during the Capitol storm.
“No one can tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday, they would have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol,” President-Elect Joe Biden said in a video statement Thursday. “We all know that’s true. And it’s unacceptable. Totally unacceptable.”
Even before the storm, pro-Trump supporters have done things that Black Americans simply cannot do. In several state anti-quarantine protesters walked into state buildings openly carrying weapons. In Wisconsin this summer, 19 year-old shot three people, killing two. Rittenhouse then went back to his home state of Illinois before being arrested for murder. He’s currently free on a $2 million bond.
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