Hawley: Peaceful Protesters ‘Right to Demand’ We Stop ‘Pattern of Violence Exercised Against African Americans’

During a speech on the Senate floor on Monday, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) sharply denounced the killing of George Floyd, said peaceful protesters are “right to demand that this pattern of violence exercised against African Americans be acknowledged and it be confronted and it be stopped.” And stated that those who are rioting and looting “do a great disservice to the memory of Mr. Floyd, to his family, and to this cause of justice that we Americans share together.”

Hawley said the police used “incredible, illegal, unconstitutional violence ending in the loss of Mr. Floyd’s life.”

He added that the autopsy report from medical examiners hired by Floyd’s family shows the “violation of police procedures, the abuse of the law, the appalling, illegal, homicidal misuse of government authority. And words cannot begin to describe the injustice that this has done to Mr. Floyd, to his family, to his community, and to millions of Americans, who feel caught up, who feel judged by, endangered by, imperiled by these actions and too many others like them, over too many years, for too long in this country.”

Hawley further stated that the actions of the officers in the Floyd case “cast an incredible aspersion on those valiant and courageous and law-abiding police officers, black and white and of every color, across our country, who go to do their job every day to protect and uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States and to protect men and women like George Floyd.”

Hawley added, “I understand why so many Americans have assembled peacefully, peacefully, to witness to this abuse of power and to protest it and to demand that justice be done, and they are right to do so. And they are right to demand that this pattern of violence exercised against African Americans be acknowledged and it be confronted and it be stopped. And this is urgent work for us, as a nation, and for this Congress, as we go forward. I also believe, madam president, that those who would turn this occasion into an opportunity for rioting and for looting and for more violence and for further attacks and for civil unrest do a great disservice to the memory of Mr. Floyd, to his family, and to this cause of justice that we Americans share together. For this is a cause that is ours together as a nation. This is a cause given to us by our common Constitution. This is a cause that should link us together, American with American. And we must resist the efforts of those, all of those who would set us against ourselves, as we seek to pursue that more perfect union, as we seek to pursue justice in this case and in other cases and in the future to come.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett