Karen Bass: The Men Killed by Rittenhouse Akin to Civil Rights Workers

Representative Karen Bass (D-CA) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the two white men killed by Kyle Rittenhouse during a protest were like white Civil Rights activists killed in the 1960s.

When asked about the trial on the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, Bass said, “I think that particular trial is off to a bad start just like the trial of Rittenhouse is off to a bad start as well. A year ago, we were talking about racial reckoning, and it seemed to be an enlightened period, and now we’ve had major setbacks. I think that people understand that you can use race politically. It charges people up. It’s highly emotional issue, and I think it’s just really sad. That trial, the Arbery trial, is a trial of a lynching. That is exactly what happened in that case and look at Rittenhouse. Both of those trials were based in race. I’m concerned about the outcome for both of them.”

Anchor Jake Tapper said, “Kyle Rittenhouse is a white man accused of shooting three other white men and killing two of them. Explain how you think there’s a racial dimension to this case?”

Bass said, “Remember now, where were the White men killed? At a protest, protesting in solidarity for Black folks so, to me, it was reminiscent of the Civil Rights Movement when you had young white people that participated in the sit-ins and protests, and they were subject to beatings, they were subject to shootings, many of them were killed as well, and it’s as though the judge is taking that very lightly. Remember, the judge in the Rittenhouse case said you couldn’t even refer to the people that were killed as victims. You could refer to them as rioters. Here you have a 17-year-old boy who was driven by his mother across state lines with an automatic weapon. Frankly, she should have been detained for child endangerment. To go to a protest, he said he’s going to help the police. It was ridiculous. He walks across with his automatic weapon, and the police look at him, and the majority of the people protesting were African-American, but the White men that were killed were protesting in solidarity with the Black people so it reminded me of the Civil Rights Movement.”

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