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[Page S5578]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROTESTS
Madam President, now, one final matter. For months now, it has been
clear to basically every reasonable American that our country can and
must hold two sets of true statements in our minds at the same time.
No. 1, our country has unfinished work to ensure that policing is
fair to everyone and that Black Americans do not feel unfairly treated
or targeted by law enforcement. And, No. 2, the vast majority of law
enforcement officers are heroes, and the toxicity, anger, and actual
violence that far-left mobs have inflicted on police men and women
across our country is simply beyond the pale.
The American people want racial justice, and we want good, strong
policing to ensure equal protection of the laws. We understand there is
no contradiction here--none whatsoever. Most people are outraged by the
killings of Black Americans that have shocked our country.
Sunday marked 6 months since the death of Breonna Taylor in my
hometown of Louisville, KY. Our people want answers. Our Nation wants
answers. Most Americans also feel sick when they hear about events like
what happened last weekend in Los Angeles. Two sheriff's deputies were
ambushed and shot while they sat in their patrol car in Compton. And
then far-left protesters tried to literally block--block--an entrance
to the hospital chanting things like ``kill the police'' and ``I hope
they [effing] die.''
Fortunately, both deputies are out of surgery, but the hateful
climate that creates these acts is still with us. One of our two
political parties should do more to repudiate the underlying climate on
their side.
To be clear, Democratic leaders, including Vice President Biden and
our colleague like the junior Senator from California, spoke up quickly
to condemn the actual shootings of these officers themselves. That was
absolutely the right thing to do--no question. But what about the
underlying climate? For months, the political left in this country has
put all its might behind a false narrative that says disorder is
acceptable, riots are free speech, and law enforcement is the real
enemy of certain communities.
One prominent national newspaper, which found a straightforward op-ed
from our colleague, Senator Cotton, to be more than they could bear,
had no problem publishing a submission entitled, ``Yes, We Mean
Literally Abolish the Police.'' No problem publishing that--``Yes, We
Mean Literally Abolish the Police.''
When the Speaker of the House was asked to respond to rioters
illegally toppling statues across the country, she blithely responded:
``People will do what they will do.'' That was about the topic of
statues. From one liberal big city to another, we have seen mayors and
local leaders who apparently find it easier to propose cutting police
funding and criticize their men and women in uniform than to denounce
out-of-control riots in their very own cities.
Just yesterday, with this Los Angeles story making headlines
nationwide, the junior Senator from Massachusetts decided to criticize
police officers on his Twitter feed and proposed a nationwide ban on
nonlethal measures like tear gas and rubber bullets--a nationwide ban
on nonlethal measures like tear gas and rubber bullets.
We are now at a point where some of our Democratic colleagues survey
the Nation, survey the way law enforcement officers are being treated,
and decide the answer is to keep rhetorically throwing cops under the
bus--throwing them under the bus--and try to ban their nonlethal means
of self-defense while they are at it.
The American people don't have any trouble rejecting terrible racism
and discrimination and rejecting lawlessness, violence, and anti-police
prejudice with equal clarity and equal force. They deserve leaders who
can do likewise.
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