Posted on 08/14/2014 3:28:55 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) on Thursday called on President Obama to use executive authority and declare martial law in Ferguson, Mo., where protesters have clashed with police after the shooting of an unarmed black teenager.
“My own feeling is right now is President Obama should use the authority of his office to declare martial law,” Lewis said on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.” “Federalize that Missouri National Guard to protect people as they protest,”
Lewis, an icon of the 1960s civil rights movement, said it is “unreal” to see what the police are doing in Ferguson.
“People have a right to protest. They have a right to dissent. They have a right to march in an orderly peaceful nonviolent fashion,” he said. “Ferguson, Mo., is not the Congo, not China, not Russia. We can do better.”
The Ferguson Police Department is facing criticism after officers armed with military-grade weaponry on Wednesday night cracked down on protesters. The police fired tear gas into crowds and also briefly arrested two reporters from the Huffington Post and Washington Post during the crackdown.
Lewis said the police force operating there in military garb is only further inciting protests, and said the state’s National Guard should be ordered in.
Asked if Obama could unilaterally declare martial law without permission from Gov. Jay Nixon (D-Mo.), Lewis cited President Kennedy’s use of national guardsmen in the 1960s.
In 1961, Lewis said Kennedy federalized the National Guard in Montgomery, Ala., to protect the public during unrest amid the civil rights movement.
“And if it hadn't been for the National Guard, ordered there by President Kennedy, and the U.S. marshals, some of us would have died there that night,” Lewis said.
President Obama spoke about the situation just after Lewis’s interview and urged for “peace and calm” in Ferguson.
Obama made no mention about sending in National Guard troops, but did say he spoke with Gov. Nixon Thursday afternoon. Nixon said he plans to remove the local police force.
Lewis’s colleagues from the Congressional Black Caucus also released an updated statement about the violence Thursday in which one lawmaker said the current police crackdown already amounted to martial law.
“A young, unarmed man was shot by a police officer. A small town is under what is essentially martial law. Tear gas and rubber bullets are being used against everyday citizens,” said Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.). Serious and sweeping civil rights violations may have taken place in Ferguson, Missouri.”
Conyers said removing the St. Louis County Police Department from Ferguson is “an important step towards restoring peace and allowing for an independent, thorough investigation to take place.
“The people of Ferguson deserve nothing less,” he said.
As a Georgian, I would be embarrassed by this moron, but, unfortunately, he, too, is a perfect representative for his district.
Why is a rep from GA commenting on a situation in MO. This fool needs to shut his trap and mind his business.
The president cannot declare martial law without a request from the governor, who must declare martial law first.
Being black and a “civil rights icon” the world is his oyster.
He really thinks he’d win in that scenario. All this sycophancy from the media, academia, the RINOs and Hollywood have gone to his head.
Lewis, in general, “doesn’t have a clue”. Too many beatings during the civil rights marches has turned his brain to mush.
Once a very brave and honorable man. Today, a leftist, racist brain-addled/damaged fool.
Ah, Lewis longing for the days when he was a real civil rights leader before he became a pimp and paid liar for the Democratic plantation.
But the difference is that they were lying.
Lewis hasn’t been ‘right’ since R Limbaugh biatched slapped him in public over and asinine statement he made. In public.
Basically Lewis had said that millions of slaves were thrown over board in transit from Africa to New York or wherever.
Rush did the math and figured that if 2 million had been thrown overboard it would have been over 200 hundred a day or so, and seeing as it was a ‘cash crop’ didn’t seem to make any sense.
Lewis (to prove his gross stupidity) responded to R and said maybe he was wrong on the 2 million, maybe it was only 1 million -and besides, the sharks still patrolled the same waters looking for the carcasses.
Rush said ok....lets say 1 million....that would make it 100 a day and who could afford that????
(Above a rough ‘translation’ to an event that took place a few years ago)
He sez this isn’t a dictatorship, and to prove it, Zero should rule by decree. Thanks 2ndDivisionVet.
I think Representative Lewis is duly concerned the protests could spread to Guam, and too many people on one side of the island would tip it over.
I know it was Johnson.
But the martial law thing is stupid.
Definite betrayal of where the Lib mindset is...
My understanding is that due to an Executive Order of Czar B.O., if MARTIAL LAW is declared, the EPA and not the MILITARY is the controlling agency!
Someone stuck in mommas basement too long in life has an infatuation with The Hunger Games.
This dude needs to retire.
If having a crush on Jennifer Lawrence is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
He did one good thing* in his entire life here in Nashville 50+ years ago and has been riding it ever since, despite being more totalitarian and fascist than the “Good Ole (White) Boys” he sought to overthrow. He’s been a mush-mouthed, addle-brained race baiter for much of his career (who could forget his “Dey comin’ fo...!” speech on the floor of the House, one of the most shameful bits of demagoguery in modern history).
(*perhaps two good things, as he did beat the presumed successor to Wyche Fowler, the uber-arrogant and entitled State Sen. Julian Bond. Bond has almost as high an opinion of himself as Zero... almost).
Once again, civil rights leaders pushing the idea that the rioters are those “other people”. I’m surprised they haven’t blamed the Jews for rioting.
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