Congresswoman Fudge: Opposition to Militarized Police is Foolish, “Everything isn’t Ferguson”

Washington, D.C.- When asked about the militarization of local police departments across the country at the Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Conference (CBC) last week, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge (OH-D) staunchly defended it, saying, “it was the right thing to do.”

32 Congressional Black Caucus members have come under harsh criticism by their constituents for voting against an amendment that would have halted the transfer of military grade weapons from the Pentagon to local police forces.

Fudge said, “You know I’ve heard so much of this foolishness on Twitter, about the black caucus voted against the Grayson Amendment. Because it was a dumb amendment….Any time that you say that you can not give any police department any equipment, goes to the extreme.”

“Everything is not Ferguson,” she continued, “so why would you vote for something that is so extreme that you hurt yourself? It just doesn’t make any sense. And so yes we voted against it, and yes I am glad that we did, because it was the right thing to do.”

While Fudge abstained from voting on the amendment, her non-vote has been viewed as “treasonous” to many in the black community.

From the Black Agenda Report:

The same goes for the Congressional Black Caucus, the vast majority of whose members voted against an amendment that would have halted Pentagon military transfers to U.S. police departments, back in the early summer. Had the Black people of Ferguson not stood up – and stayed standing – demanding justice for Michael Brown, the June 19 vote on Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson’s amendment might have remained largely unnoted. Instead, in the glare of popular outrage, four-fifths of the Caucus has been revealed as vile hypocrites and traitors who put battlefield weapons and human rights-suppressing equipment in the hands of local cops. These Treasonous 32 – 27 “Nay” votes and 5 abstentions, out of 40 – can never be forgiven, and should be denounced and shamed at every opportunity, starting with this month’s CBC Legislative Conference and celebrate-good-times-for-the-few party, in Washington.