If there’s one thing you can count on from Democrats, it’s that they will say and do the most deceitful things possible to further widen the racial divide. This in spite of their stated desire for “unity” and “harmony” and what not.
There is no better current example of this than Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), a 2020 presidential candidate who has been enjoying a slow but steady rise in presidential polling since May. She was in New Hampshire on Wednesday campaigning, and was asked about a controversial tweet she posted on the 5th anniversary of the death of Michael Brown last Friday.
To recap, here’s what she tweeted:
5 years ago Michael Brown was murdered by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Michael was unarmed yet he was shot 6 times. I stand with activists and organizers who continue the fight for justice for Michael. We must confront systemic racism and police violence head on.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) August 9, 2019
Not only did she get fact checked on her false claim by veteran journalist Brit Hume at the time, but after his prodding, three different websites took both her and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) to task that following Monday for essentially tweeting the same thing.
Both the Washington Post and FactCheck.org put out pieces on Warren’s and Harris’s tweets, noting their claims were not true:
“Harris, Warren Wrong About Brown Shooting,” read a headline Monday from the non-profit website factcheck.org.
Washington Post Fact Checker Glenn Kessler on Monday also awarded both senators four pinocchios over their claims.
[…]
… the fact-checkers said the evidence in the case contradicts the comments by Harris and Warren: Three months after the shooting, a grand jury decided not to indict Wilson. And in March of 2015, a report released by President Barack Obama’s Department of Justice found that Officer Darren Wilson most likely had reason to fear for his life and did not break the law when shooting Brown.
Even Vox.com, which is more openly left-wing than the Washington Post and FactCheck.org, wrote that Harris’s and Warren’s tweets about Brown were false, concluding:
Five years after the shooting, though, major presidential campaigns are still getting the details wrong.
None of this seemed to faze Warren, who on Wednesday doubled down on her claim by taking the Politifact approach to the word “murder” by essentially saying it was more about what she meant than what she actually said:
The U.S. senator from Massachusetts faced questions from back home, where the Yarmouth, Massachusetts, Police Department described as “reckless” her tweet about the five-year anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, who was killed in Ferguson, Missouri, in a controversial officer-involved shooting.
Warren said the police “murdered” Brown.
“What matters was a man was shot, an unarmed man, in the middle of the street, by police officers and left to die,” she said. “And I think that’s where our focus should be.”
Watch video of Warren speaking to reporters about this issue below:
Hot Air‘s John Sexton is right on the money in describing why Warren’s falsehoods on the Michael Brown shooting matter:
First of all, Officer Wilson didn’t know Brown was unarmed during their encounter. What he did know was that Brown was larger and heavier and that he had already initiated a fight with a police officer including throwing punches and grabbing for his gun.
Secondly, it’s not accurate that Brown was shot and “left to die.” The final shot that stopped Brown entered the top of his head as he was charging forward. He died instantly. Warren may have been trying to allude to the fact that Brown’s body remained in the street for several hours after his death. But that’s not the same thing as being left to die.
At least she left the racial angle out of her “amended” statement on Brown’s death, but even with that said, it’s also wrong and highly irresponsible for her to continue to perpetuate the “murder” lie. She’s smearing a police officer (Darren Wilson) who President Barack Obama’s own Justice Department concluded acted in self defense.
If Warren’s point is to highlight race issues between law enforcement and the black community, she needs to find another case to reference. The Michael Brown case, with the false narratives of “hands up, don’t shoot” and “gentle giant”, is not an example of the excessive use of police force against an unarmed black citizen she claims she wants to focus on.
————-
— Based in North Carolina, Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter. –
Join the conversation as a VIP Member