MSNBC's Joy Reid says D.C. rioters would have been 'shackled, arrested or dead' had it been a Black Lives Matter protest
The white, pro-Trump rioters that Americans saw storming the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday would have been treated much differently if they’d been attending a Black Lives Matter protest, MSNBC anchor Joy Reid told viewers in her coverage of the chaos.
“Guarantee you, if that was a Black Lives Matter protest in D.C., there would already be people shackled, arrested or dead. Shackled, arrested en masse or dead,” the host of The Reid Out said. (See her comments at the 4:05-mark in the video above.)
She mentioned several Black activists by name. “Get Brittany Packnett Cunningham on here. She’ll tell you how they treated her in Ferguson. Put [Black Lives Matter co-founder] Alicia Garza on here. She’ll tell you how they treated her at every Black Lives Matter march. Get [Black Lives Matter co-founder] Patrisse Cullors on. They’ll tell you. They’ll tell you what it feels like to ‘protest’ peacefully and unarmed and how the police will treat you if you’re Black. That’s it. They’re not afraid of the cops, cause they know the cops are cool with it.”
Reid marveled at all the rioters who were able to invade the building where senators and representatives had gathered to certify the votes electing former Vice President Joe Biden as president. The supporters of President Donald Trump — who has just 14 days left in office — claimed that the election was stolen, although there’s been no evidence of fraud, even according to Trump’s former Attorney General William Barr.
“The reason they could easily and casually — with their cameras on — film themselves throwing things through the walls of our Capitol, our property, going inside the Capitol, sitting in Speaker Pelosi’s office, casually taking pictures of themselves, have that played on Fox News... They know that they are not in jeopardy,” Reid said. “Because the cops are taking selfies with them, walking them down the steps to make sure they’re not hurt, taking care with their bodies — not like they treated Freddie Gray’s body.”
Gray, a 25-year-old Black man, died on April 19, 2015, a week after he endured a severe spinal cord injury while in police custody. His death sparked daily protests and riots in Baltimore. None of the officers in his case were ever convicted of a crime.
“White Americans aren’t afraid of the cops,” Reid continued. “White Americans are never afraid of the cops, even when they’re committing insurrection. Even when they’re engaged in attempting to occupy our Capitol to steal the votes of people who look like me, because, in their minds, they own this country. They own that Capitol. They own the cops. The cops work for them, and people like me have no damn right to try to elect a president. Because we don’t get to pick the president, they get to pick the president. They own the president. They own the White House. They own this country. And so when you think you own it, you own the place, you ain’t afraid of the police. The police are you, and the police reflect back to that. ‘We’re with you. You’re good. We’re not gonna hurt you, cause you’re not them.’”
Despite the shocking images of the rioters, just 13 people had been arrested as of late Wednesday, while one woman was shot and killed by police. Several police officers were being treated for injuries.
Follow Yahoo News' live coverage of the events at the U.S. Capitol.
Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:
