Keith Ellison Rips Trump on Police Brutality And White Supremacy: ‘He Doesn’t Want To Call This What It Is’
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison told SiriusXM host Dean Obeidallah that President Donald Trump won’t call police brutality and white supremacy “what it is” even though he once insisted everyone attach the word “Islamic” to any mention of terrorism.
On Friday’s edition of SiriusXM’s The Dean Obeidallah Show, Obeidallah talked with Ellison about Trump’s response to police violence and racism during the unrest over the killing of George Floyd, and Ellison contrasted Trump’s response with his previous insistence — against the advice of his own advisers — to brand another sort of violence:
Dean: Does it matter that Trump refuses to say “police brutality” that he refuses to say, “white supremacy” and “black lives matter”?
AG Ellison: Well, of course it matters what the president says. Well, wait a minute, he’s tried to label himself a truth-teller. When we had to say “Islamic terrorism.” We couldn’t use the word “terrorism” without attaching “Islamic” or “Muslim” to it. And he called that being bold and telling like it is. Oh, but now he doesn’t want to call this what it is right?
He’s for freedom of expression except for Colin Kaepernick, right? He’s actually okay with taking a knee on somebody’s neck, but not a knee on the ground. You know, Colin Kaepernick was protesting this exact problem. He wasn’t protesting the police. He wasn’t disrespecting the flag. He was saying, I want to draw attention to this problem. And for that, they robbed him of his NFL career.
But if they’d had listened to him, we would move forward. Of course, what the president says matters. The president is the one who has the bully pulpit to set a tone for the nation.
But you should know since Trump came in there’s not been one single pattern or practice lawsuit [by Trump’s DOJ] dealing with this against American municipality—not one.
Dean: If people don’t what that means can you briefly explain what those kinds of lawsuits are, That’s a very important point.
AG Ellison: Right. So there’s a lot of police departments across America that systemically given fines to black and brown people, systemically stop, them in their cars, arrest them dramatically more than they do white folks. Even though we know blacks and whites smoke marijuana at the same rate, in the city of Minneapolis black men got arrested 21 time more than white me for the same thing. This is what you call a pattern and a practice. Where you have infused within the dynamics and the culture of the department, a racial bias. And so it’s appropriate for the federal Department of Justice to sue these kinds of cities and investigate this. And then they enter into a Consent Decree where these cities say, “ok, we’re going to clean up our act.”
Watch the clip above, via SiriusXM.
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