Tlaib: US policing ‘intentionally racist,’ can’t be reformed

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) on Monday said that policing in the U.S. is “intentionally racist” and “can’t be reformed” in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of a Black man in a Minneapolis suburb, which the local police chief said he believes was the result of an officer mistakenly using a gun instead of a Taser.

“It wasn’t an accident. Policing in our country is inherently & intentionally racist. Daunte Wright was met with aggression & violence,” Tlaib wrote on Twitter.

She also called for policing to end, writing that she is “done” with people who “condone government funded murder.”

“No more policing, incarceration, and militarization. It can’t be reformed,” she continued in the same tweet.

It wasn’t an accident. Policing in our country is inherently & intentionally racist.

Daunte Wright was met with aggression & violence. I am done with those who condone government funded murder.

No more policing, incarceration, and militarization. It can’t be reformed.

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) April 12, 2021

Twenty-year-old Daunte Wright was shot Sunday at a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minn. 

Wright’s death has been ruled a homicide by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner. The city’s police chief said he believes the officer meant to draw her Taser but mistakenly pulled her gun instead.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) expressed a similar sentiment as Tlaib in the wake of Wright’s killing, writing on Twitter, “We can’t reform this.”

“From slave patrols to traffic stops. We can’t reform this,” she wrote.

From slave patrols to traffic stops. We can’t reform this. https://t.co/Z4JV3iWUKF

— Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) April 12, 2021

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), a progressive ally of Tlaib and Pressley, wrote on Twitter that her state was “sick and heartbroken” and that “violence is a basic part of police interactions with communities of color.”

She added that the violence “must stop.”

We are sick and heartbroken.

In the closing days of Derek Chauvin’s murder trial, Brooklyn Center police killed 20 year old Daunte Wright, another Black man, during a traffic stop.

This violence is a basic part of police interactions with communities of color. It must stop. pic.twitter.com/bCqp3xRnT8

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 12, 2021

Protests erupted throughout Minnesota following the shooting. Photos and video taken late Sunday night showed hundreds of protesters gathering in Brooklyn Center, which is just north of Minneapolis, where the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin, who is accused of murdering George Floyd, entered its third week on Monday.

Wright was initially pulled over for expired license tags, but after authorities obtained his IDs, they realized there was an outstanding warrant for his arrest.

In the video, Wright can be seen trying to get back into his car when two officers attempt to arrest and place handcuffs on him.

An officer can then be heard shouting “taze him” multiple times after Wright gets back into his car’s driver seat. In the video, an officer points a gun at Wright as he grabs the steering wheel and shouts “Shit!” and then appears to drop the handgun.

The officer then can be heard saying, “I just shot him.”