In a speech on the floor of the Tennessee House of Representatives state Rep. John DeBerry (D-Memphis) took a stand against violent protesters, something Democratic lawmakers have been hesitant to do.
“What we see is not peaceful,” DeBerry said. “So we can continue to fool ourselves and mix with words and use rhetoric and public relations in order to frost this stuff over and put a nice picture on what we see. That is frightening.”
DeBerry said those on the left who are non-violent turning a blind eye to the chaos and destruction suffered by communities across the country at the hands of Antifa and Black Lives Matter rioters is disgraceful, particularly in contrast to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s non-violence of the 1960s.
He issued a dire warning.
“If we don't start standing for something, don't you know that the people who are looking at what's happening in Washington and Detroit and Portland and Seattle, they're getting emboldened because we act like a bunch of punks too frightened to stand up and protect our own stuff?” DeBerry said. “You tell me that somebody got the right to tear down property that Tennessee taxpayers paid for, that American taxpayers paid for. And somebody has the right to destroy it, deface it and tear it down. What kind of people have we become that we can't protect our own stuff?”
DeBerry, an pro-life preacher, was recently removed from the Democratic Party ballot in a state party maneuver. He is now running as an independent in the fall election.
In his speech, DeBerry recounted being a 10-year-old watching King’s final speech on a story night in Memphis. The next day King was assassinated.
He said there is a big difference between King’s movement and what he is seeing today.
“(T)hat man stood there and said that he wanted his children judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin,” DeBerry said. “And all we do in America right now is talk about color. Every issue, every issue is about race.”
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