I Didn't Say It ...

Alicia Garza, Black Lives Matter co-founder, defending the group:

“Black Lives Matter has never, ever called for the murder of police officers. What we have said over and over again is that it is time in this country for policing to be accountable, transparent and responsible. That’s not rhetoric. That is what communities in the United States want to see from the people who protect and serve them. And so quite frankly, we can, at the same time as we grieve the loss of life of several officers who were killed last night, we can also push to demand that there be accountable, responsive, transparent policing that has oversight form communities and that is accountable to the communities they are supposed to protect and serve. We are not anti-police, we are anti-our people being murdered in the streets. What happened to Alton Sterling, what happened to Philando, what happens to so many black people in our communities is absolutely unacceptable, and I think that’s something that we can all agree on.”

Anyone who calls the Black Lives Matter movement racist doesn’t know what the words actually mean.

It doesn’t say Black Lives Matter More, it says stop acting like Black Lives Don’t Matter.

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David Brown, Dallas Police Chief, asking lawmakers to do their job on gun control:

“There is a greater role in policy-making, and folks just need to do their job. There are too many things we all agree on on both sides of the aisle that we haven’t gotten done. We just need to get it done. Quit asking cops to chime in and do it for you. We’ve got a full plate. The policy-making, the laws being passed, that’s their job. We need to do it to be safer in this country. The issues have been long discussed. We are not getting to a place where we do anything. That’s the frustration for police officers. We all know what needs to be done that we agree on, just to say we did something.”

I wonder if Congress will listen now that the Police Chief of a major city, where gun violence just reared its ugly head, has asked them to do something?

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President Barack Obama, calling upon the United States to reject despair after a week of gun violence and police shootings:

“All of it left us wounded and angry. And hurt. The deepest fault lines of our democracy have suddenly been exposed, perhaps even widened. … Faced with this violence, we wonder if the divides of race in America can ever be bridged. We wonder if an African-American community that feels unfairly targeted by police and a police department that is feel unfairly maligned for doing their jobs can ever understand each other’s experience. … Today, in this audience, I see people who have protested on behalf of criminal justice reform grieving along police officers. I see people who mourn from the five officers we lost, but also weep for the families of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. In this audience, I see what’s possible. I see what’s possible when we recognize that we are one American family, all deserving of equal treatment. All deserving equal respect. All children of God. That’s the America I know.”

I am gonna miss this president when he’s out of office, and I certainly hope the next President, whomever she may be, will not have to spend so much time in office at memorials for Americans killed because of gun violence and race.

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David Cameron, on what he thinks was the highlight of his career as Britain’s Prime Minister:

“I will never forget the day at No.10 when one of the people who works close to the front door said to me ‘I’m not very interested in politics Mr. Cameron, but because of something your lot have done I am able to marry the person I’ve loved all my life this weekend.'”

Equality is a huge accomplishment.

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Josh Earnest, White House Press Secretary, on The Rump’s Twitter call for the resignation of Justice Ginsburg:

“I would not call her competence into question. I think anybody who’s observed her, she’s done her work. Whether you agree with her or not, and whether you agree with every ruling she has issued, I think over the course of her career, she’s demonstrated a keen intellect and understanding of the law and a commitment to understanding that it’s applied fairly to every American citizen and she didn’t earn the nickname ‘The Notorious RBG’ for nothing.”

Snap. Hot Josh strikes again.

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