LANSING, MI -- The chair of the Michigan Democratic Party called supporters of President Donald Trump "racist" and said "silence is not an option" in a statement on police brutality and racial injustices issued this weekend.
In a statement issued Sunday evening, Lavora Barnes said Trump and his supporters are racist.
"If you support Donald Trump, you are a racist. Here is where it gets tricky and uncomfortable. Donald Trump is a racist, and if being a racist is not a dealbreaker for you, you are the reason Black people are being murdered for being Black," Barnes wrote in a statement.
It came during a weekend of protest in Michigan and across the nation against police brutality. The protests were sparked by the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man in Minneapolis who, in video shared widely on social media, is shown with a white police officer kneeling on his neck for several minutes.
Barnes also wrote that it's time to put friendships at risk if it means speaking up and knows people are angry. Barnes said she doesn't want to hear the pleas for understanding.
"Here is what I want to see: I want the economic oppression of Black communities to stop, including holding the oppressors accountable. I want meaningful criminal justice reform. And I want law enforcement to actually do their jobs and prosecute hate crimes, and when law enforcement participates in racist conduct I want them held accountable — not by the prosecutors and colleagues they work with every day, but by an independent body, that they hold no sway over," Barnes wrote.
Laura Cox, the Chair of the Michigan Republican Party issued a statement of her own Monday, condemning the statement by Barnes, saying that calling two million Michiganders "racist" is unacceptable.
"Let's be perfectly clear, there is nothing good about racism. It is a form of pure evil and calling someone a racist is akin to calling that person evil. Lavora Barnes' remarks claim that millions of Michiganders are evil," Cox wrote. "It implies that they cannot be reasoned with, and that our differences cannot be resolved peacefully through discourse and not violence.
"I refuse to accept this inflammatory statement from my counterpart. As leaders in our state at this trying time, I believe it is imperative that we forge a path forward to better circumstances for every American. Fanning the flames that are burning our cities down does not accomplish that."
Cox went on to argue that Trump has done more to help African-Americans during his presidency than Democratic leaders have in the past through reform.
"And while Democrats have spent trillions trying to bring African Americans out of poverty, under President Trump, the African American unemployment rate hit an all-time low, and the black poverty rate was at its lowest level in our nation's history," Cox wrote.
In response to Cox's letter, Barnes issued another statement accusing Cox and the GOP of attempting to shame her for "speaking truth to power."
"I should be surprised that Laura Cox and the Michigan Republican Party would take this moment in history to attempt to shame me for speaking truth to power. But I am not surprised. This is right on 'message' for the Michigan GOP. Deflect, blame, and lie," Barnes said.
"The complete hypocrisy of Republicans saying they won't accept inflammatory statements, while the leader of their party tweeted '...when the looting starts, the shooting starts' is outrageous. As Americans, we don't have time for these political games. Black women and men are being killed."
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