Michelle Obama
Photo Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images
"It Hurts": Michelle Obama on Lack of Police Presence at MAGA Riots Compared to BLM Protests
Michelle and Barack Obama released statements on Thursday afternoon.
On Wednesday, chaos erupted in Washington, D.C. after supporters of Donald Trump stormed the United States Capitol. Dozens were hurt, at least one woman was shot an killed as the world looked on in confusion. On Thursday, former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama released statements about the disturbing state of affairs.
"I woke up yesterday elated by the news of Reverend Raphael Warnock's election victory," Michelle wrote. "I was heartened by the idea that the Senior Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church would be representing his state in the United States Senate. In just a few hours though, my heart had fallen harder and faster than I can remember."
\u201cLike all of you, I\u2019ve been feeling so many emotions since yesterday. I tried to put my thoughts down here:\u201d— Michelle Obama (@Michelle Obama) 1610052569
The former First Lady went on to note the difference in response from police forces during protests over the summer.
"This summer's Black Lives Matter protests were an overwhelmingly peaceful movement," she continued. "And yet, in city after city, day after day, we saw peaceful protestors met with brute force. We saw cracked skulls and mass arrests, law enforcement pepper spraying its way through a peaceful demonstration for a presidential photo op."
Barack Obama released a shorter statement, condemning Trump followers' "fantasy narrative."
\u201cHere\u2019s my statement on today\u2019s violence at the Capitol.\u201d— Barack Obama (@Barack Obama) 1609980960
"For two months now, a political party and its accompanying media ecosystem has too often been unwilling to tell their followers the truth," he wrote. "That this was not a particularly close election and that President-Elect Biden will be inaugurated on January 20...right now, Republican leaders have a choice made clear in the desecrated chambers of democracy. They can continue down this road and keep stoking the raging fires. Or they can choose reality and take the first step towards extinguishing the flames. They can choose America."
Vice president-elect Kamala Harris also tweeted about the events of Wednesday.
"We have witnessed two systems of justice," she wrote. "One that let extremists storm the U.S. Capitol yesterday, and another that released tear gas on peaceful protestors last summer. It's simply unacceptable."
President-elect Joe Biden agreed, insisting the mob of Trump supporters be called "domestic terrorists," not protesters. Biden says his granddaughter sent him pictures from Wednesday compared to pictures from a Black Lives Matter protest.
"She said, 'Pop, this isn't fair. No one can tell me if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday, they wouldn't have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol,'" Biden said. "We all know that's true. And it is unacceptable. Totally unacceptable."
