Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia spoke on the House floor in opposition to creating a bipartisan commission to study the insurrection that happened on January 6, 2021 at the Capitol.
Greene claimed Black Lives Matter protests should also be studied and considered an insurrection. The basis of her argument centered on the property damages and money spent on police overtime during the summer of 2020.
You can see her remarks here:
Greene started her speech saying:
"I rise in opposition to a commission to study the events of Jan. 6th as well as spending $2 billion in security supplemental."
"The question that comes to mind is this. What about all the riots that happened during the summer of 2020 after the death of George Floyd?"
"What about the damage caused to federal buildings, churches, people's businesses and innocent people that were killed?"
For the majority of her five minute speech, Greene claimed Black Lives Matter protests were violent and caused damages to government property and businesses, ultimately costing cities millions of dollars.
Later she stated:
"Studies show that 570 protests and 220 U.S. Locations turned violent over the summer."
However, TIME magazine shared a report by the ACLED showing 93% of the Black Lives Matter protests across all 50 states and Washington D.C. were peaceful.
White nationalist and White supremacist organizations like the Proud Boys were often cited in protests that became violent and rioters and arsonists unaffiliated with the protests were cited in much of the property damage.
TIME said about those few violent protests:
"ACLED also highlights a 'violent government response,' in which authorities 'use force more often than not' when they are present at protests and that they 'disproportionately used force while intervening in demonstrations associated with the BLM movement, relative to other types of demonstrations.'
"The report also references 'dozens of car-ramming attacks' on protesters by various individuals, some of whom have ties to hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan."
Interestingly enough, Greene made the point about police violence in her speech, saying:
"Police officers set off fireworks near the buildings and courthouse and set two city trucks on fire."
The difference between an insurrection and a protest is insurrections are an uprising against a government, however protests are a statement of opposition to something like police violence or government policies.
The right to protest was written into the United States Constitution in the first amendment as the "right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Greene made a final point suggesting a commission study protests.
"Indeed we should have a commission to study the violent BLM and ANTIFA mobs that have plagued American cities this past summer. And that's for the American people, who by the way pay the taxes that fund everything we do here."
She then defended the people that breached the capitol on January 6, causing the loss of five lives and millions in property damage and theft.
"While it's catch and release for domestic terrorists ANTIFA BLM, the people who breached the capitol on January 6th are being abused."
"Some [are] even being held for 23 hours a day in solitary confinement."
"Also, who killed Ashli Babbitt and why is that not being revealed?"
Ashli Babbitt was a part of a violent mob at the Capitol on January 6. She was fatally shot by police while trying to batter through doors leading to the House Speaker's lobby.
People on Twitter were appalled Greene would defend the people involved in the insurrection.
Though her speech was not well received, this is the probably not the last we hear from Greene on this subject.
