Elected Missouri Democrat threatens voters over white privilege on Twitter
On Saturday, Maria Chappelle-Nadal, a Democrat serving in the Missouri state Senate whose district includes Ferguson, issued what many took to be a racist threat against white people on her Twitter feed. Her message, while apparently escaping the notice of local media outlets, angered a number of people."LET ME BE CLEAR," she screamed on Twitter. "When you exercise your #WhitePrivilege, don't think I'm not going to remember. I will use it for the future. Uncomfortable?"
"The system has literally failed the people I represent," she said hours later. "There is no hope that anything will change. We go through the motions (because) we have to." She also said the country has failed. Ironically, the conservative blog Weasel Zippers observed, she made the comment while using an image of Communist dictator Fidel Castro as her background.
"If you r not a legislator representing #Ferguson & you have not communicated w me, yet u have a 'resolution', expect fire," she said in another angry tweet. Several responded angrily to that message as well, calling her a racist and a bigot. One responded by telling her to quit having supporters direct violence at police officers.
"So, you are a racist & are saying as an elected official, you only represent select people," one person said in response. Another person asked Chappelle-Nadal if she intends to round white people up and place them in internment camps.
"Does the nursing staff at the hospital you live at know you're on their computers this late at night?" another person asked. "Let me be clear," added another Twitter user. "THE VOTERS 'WE THE PEOPLE' will remember you when it comes to voting for you. You just burnt your future."
On the same day Chappelle-Nadal issued her racist message, the Associated Press said legislation she is sponsoring would, if passed into law, narrow the instances when police officers may use deadly force. Her proposal would also require the state attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate deaths or injuries caused by police. Currently, those incidents are handled by the locally elected prosecuting attorney. She also wants uniformed officers to wear cameras and believes institutional racism was behind the August shooting of Michael Brown.
This is not the first time Chappelle-Nadal has made controversial remarks. At one point, she accused police of purposely planning and executing the violence in Ferguson. But she changed her tune in November, when she told MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell the looting and burning taking place in Ferguson was "our race war."
"Not only has this Mike Brown movement revealed the true intentions of people in police departments across the state, but I have to tell you that there has been systematic racism, institutionally in state government for decades, including my own state party,” she said. “People are angry, and they are hurt, and they’re trying to figure out: how are they going to receive justice?”
"I have to tell you, this is St. Louis’ race war,” she added. “We didn’t have a race war like other cities throughout the country. This is our race war.”
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