Newsom, Steinberg react to protests and street violence: ‘Wrong and unacceptable’
In a Saturday morning tweet, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg emphatically decried the violence that took place at the end of a long and otherwise peaceful protest in south Sacramento Friday night, saying any kind of violence is “wrong and unacceptable.”
Steinberg was reacting to the hectic scene that occurred as a six-hour protest of police violence was breaking up after midnight. A small group of protesters got into a shoving match with police, and threw objects at police. Some stormed Highway 99 briefly, halting traffic.
The Sacramento Police Department and CHP reported nine officers were injured. Two at the protest were arrested.
In his tweet, the mayor expressed solidarity with the fight for racial justice that has ignited this week nationally after George Floyd, a Minneapolis man died after being subdued by police. Video showed officers pinning him to the ground, one officer with his knee on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes. Floyd initially plead to be let up, saying he couldn’t breathe, then fell silent. Floyd was being detained for allegedly using counterfeit money to buy cigarettes.
A second Sacramento protest is underway at the state Capitol downtown Saturday morning, one of many in cities across the country.
Steinberg wrote:
“I hope the nine officers hurt in last night’s demonstration are doing OK and that their injuries are minor. There is no moral equivalence between George Floyd’s killing and what happened last night in our community. But violence of any kind is wrong and unacceptable.
“The protest last night was largely peaceful and strong, and I commend the organizers for keeping it so. But the last moments of the protest were not acceptable and take away from the essential message that we are far from a reckoning for Mr. Floyd’s death and the never ending fight to end racial injustice.
“I’m proud of the way our community shows up for one another to stand against injustice. I commend our police officers in Sacramento for not over reacting to what occurred at the end of the protest. We will not let a few detract and derail the strength of our ability to come together for change.”
In a statement released amid another protest Saturday that began at the state Capitol, California Gov. Gavin Newsom admitted that the conditions on the ground were “at times, challenging.”
“Over the last few days, we have seen millions of people lift their voices in anger, rightfully outraged at how systemic racism is allowed to persist. Every single day, people of color are disadvantaged and discriminated against. Black and Latino men in particular face mortal danger all across this country simply because of their race. Every person who has raised their voice should be heard,” Newsom said. “I want to thank all those who helped protect human life last night and today – from community members who exercised their right to protest peacefully and encouraged others to do the same, to the law enforcement officers who faced what were, at times, challenging conditions.”
Newsom also made a point of acknowledging the presence of a small, yet riotous element in the protests, which he chalked up to outside influence.
“In California and across the country, there are indications that violent actors may be attempting to use these protests for their own agendas,” Newsom said. “We are closely monitoring organizing by violent extremist organizations ahead of tonight. To those who seek to exploit Californians’ pain to sow chaos and destruction, you are not welcome. Our state and nation must build from this moment united and more resolved than ever to address racism and its root causes.”
Other local leaders took to social media during the week to express their thoughts on the killing of Floyd in light of nationwide protests.
UC Davis Chancellor Gary May sent out a statement Thursday remarking on the repetitive nature of clashes with police in the black community, from Eric Garner, who was killed by police offers in New York City in 2014.
“ ‘I can’t breathe.’ These were the last words uttered by Eric Garner as he was being murdered on Staten Island in 2014,” May wrote. “ ‘I can’t breathe.’ These were among the last words spoken by George Floyd as he suffered the same fate under hauntingly similar circumstances in Minneapolis on Monday evening ... George Floyd could have been any African American man, including me.”
Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel and UC Davis Police Chief Joe Farrow signed a joint statement Thursday following Floyd’s death to sympathize with the people of Minneapolis.
“We are all profoundly saddened and our hearts are broken,” their statement said. “We want the entire Davis and UC Davis community to know that what we saw was unacceptable and that we train and demand that our officers do much better.”
Mai Vang, a candidate for Sacramento City Council and a board member in the Sacramento City Unified School District, took to Twitter Friday, as tension mounted in Sacramento, to offer words of wisdom from an African proverb: “The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.”
This story was originally published May 30, 2020 at 11:11 AM.