LANSING– Today, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes and State Representative Sarah Anthony held a virtual press conference blasting Trump’s failed record on racial and economic justice. On the call, they highlighted Trump’s racist rhetoric, his failed COVID-19 response that has devastated Black communities, and his Department of Justice’s broken record on police reform.
Instead of standing with protestors and against police brutality, Trump has berated governors to “dominate” citizens and called protestors rioters and looters as he oversees a DOJ that has rolled back critical policing reforms and failed to hold police departments accountable for abuses. The attacks come after Trump’s failed COVID-19 response left Black communities at disproportionate risk and failed to adequately help Black workers and businesses.
“Donald Trump didn’t create the racial inequities that have left Black Michiganders behind, but he did make them worse,” said Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes. “His failed response to COVID-19 has devastated Black Michiganders. We’re facing an economy that is breaking unemployment records and crippling Black workers and businesses. And his Department of Justice has rolled back critical Obama-era policing reforms and refused to investigate police departments with cultures of abuse. If it wasn’t clear before, the past three years have made it obvious: Donald Trump does not value Black lives.”
“Now is not the time for folks to be silent,” said State Representative Sarah Anthony. “It’s a time in which we can use every one of our platforms to call people to action. I’m proud to have Governor Whitmer and partners in the Michigan legislature that are here to address the issue of systemic racism, but that stops at the federal level. We have seen a president who has taken upon himself, every step of the way, has used every tool in the tool box to oppress and build more barriers for people of color. He has a track record: whether it was Charleston, or in our very own state capitol, you have to start to think, is this president inciting the worst in us? While we use every tool we have, working in local communities to build and to heal, this president has taken every step to divide us.”
