[WAPO] Some of those who have come onto the streets of Charlotte over the past two days say they want justice for what they say is the wrongful police killing of a black man in the city this week. Others say they want more respect -- from the police, from politicians, from everyone. Some say they just want to be heard, whatever that may mean to them. The reasons are varied -- but there is simply no sign that all of these protesters, who are overwhelmingly black, have come because they hate white people.
That's exactly what Rep. Robert Pittenger (R-N.C.) said in an interview with BBC News on Thursday evening, when asked what the protesters' grievances are. "The grievance in their mind is the animus, the anger," he said. "They hate white people, because white people are successful and they're not."
Without being prompted, Pittenger quickly pivoted to a discussion about welfare and race. "I mean, yes, it is. It is a welfare state. We have spent trillions of dollars on welfare, we have put people in bondage so that they can't be all they're capable of being. |