Raphael Warnock: ‘Open Up the Jail Cells’; Called for Creation of ‘Militant Church’

Georgia Senate Democrat candidate Raphael Warnock in 2019 called for the mass release of prisoners, saying, “Somebody’s got to open up the jails and let our children go.” In 2013, Warnock called for the creation of a “militant church.”

“It’s not enough to decriminalize marijuana; somebody’s got to open up the jail cells and let our children go,” Warnock said during a “Let My People Go: Ending Mass Incarceration” conference at Ebenezer Baptist Church in June last year.

Warnock also called for the restoration of communities he claimed were negatively affected by the war on drugs. The Georgia Democrat also described incarceration as an immoral form of “human bondage.”

“Every form of human bondage injures the soul of the oppressed. Inflates the self-understanding of the oppressor. And insults the Sovereignty of God,” he added.

Warnock hopes to unseat Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) during the Georgia Senate runoffs in January.

Warnock’s comment also mirrors his remarks in November 2013 when he gave a keynote speech at a “Rights and Religions” symposium held at the Union Theological Institute. Warnock gave a speech, “Black Theology, the Black Church and America’s Prison Industrial Complex.”

Warnock charged during the keynote speech that if “black theology and the black church” will not support “dismantling the prison industrial complex,” then “both deserve to die.”

He then called for creating a “new and militant church, preaching deliverance to the captives.”

Warnock’s controversial remarks mirror other comments, including when he called for America to repent for its worship of “whiteness.”

“If it is true that a man who has dominated the news and poisoned the discussion for months needs to repent, then it is doubly true that a nation that can produce such a man and make his vitriol go viral needs to repent,” Warnock said in an address at Atlanta’s Candler School of Theology right before the 2016 presidential election.

“No matter what happens next month, more than a third of the nation that would go along with this is reason to be afraid,” Warnock added. “America needs to repent for its worship of whiteness on full display.”

 Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.