Maxine Waters is under fire for a speech given at a rally in Los Angeles. Her words are being received by some as a call for violence, but make your own judgement before you take the word of Fox News. “Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up. If you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd, and you push back on them, and you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere!”
This follows a highly publicized event in which white house press secretary Sarah Sanders was asked to leave a restaurant in Virginia. Sanders and other conservatives have voiced their grievances online, saying Waters is calling for violence and discrimination. In the same way these people suddenly feel unsafe or unwelcome for their beliefs, queer people and people of color have experienced almost on a daily basis. It’s hard to feel bad for someone getting a taste of their own medicine.
In terms of Waters’ statement, it’s nothing compared to some of the statements made by Trump, who has demanded cops be “rough” during arrests, called for assaults at rallies, and encouraged his supporters to use their second amendment rights against opponents. Violence in any respect is unacceptable, but Waters did not call for violence. She called for the end to quiet acceptance. It’s not about politics anymore. If you support or stand idle something that rips families apart, and puts innocent adults and children in danger, that’s on your conscience. No one is under any obligation to make you feel comfortable with that.
