McDonald-Rivet at Defund the Police protest: Police “put in place to oppress”

August 13, 2024

A new report from the New York Post shows that in the days of the summer 2020 George Floyd riots, extreme Democrat Kristen McDonald-Rivet called for an “overhaul” of policing and claimed policing is “a structure put in place to oppress.”

“Kristen McDonald-Rivet has taken every opportunity to cozy up to the far left crazies of the Democrat Party. McDonald-Rivet is a Defund the Police radical politician who will trade the best interests of her constituents for her extreme agenda.” – NRCC Spokesman Mike Marinella

Read more from the New York Post here or see excerpts below:

Dem candidate in key Michigan House race once blasted police as a ‘structure put in place to oppress’
New York Post
James Dickson
August 12, 2024

DETROIT — In the days after George Floyd’s death in summer 2020, a candidate now vying for a toss-up U.S. House seat in Michigan called for an “overhaul” of the police, and said that police themselves were “born of a structure put in place to oppress,” according to New York Post research.

Kristen McDonald-Rivet, a Democrat, made the remarks in a June 3, 2020 Facebook post, which is still online.

The full post reads:

“Tonight’s protest in Bay City. We can’t stand silent. George Floyd was murdered while pleading for his life and calling for his mother. Again and again this happens in cities across the country, born of a structure put in place to oppress. It can’t be fixed with with small gestures. We need an overhaul now. Demand action. Vote. Silence is betrayal.”

McDonald-Rivet, 54, made the post after attending a George Floyd protest in Bay City. The accompanying picture shows a large group of lying protesters in the street on their stomachs, hands behind their backs, just as Floyd was during his May 25, 2020 arrest in Minneapolis.

Floyd died during that arrest, and his death sparked calls to “defund the police,” and a nationwide wave of protests. Even in normally-quiet towns like Bay City, with just about 33,000 residents.

Paul Junge, 57, will appear on the Republican ballot opposite McDonald-Rivet in November. Told of the 2020 statement, Junge said he was disappointed by his opponent’s rash words.

“It was tone deaf and totally wrong,” Junge told the Post. “To say the policing system was put in place to oppress is offensive. They’re there to protect people, and Kristen just doesn’t seem to get it.”

Junge said that heated moments, as in the aftermath of Floyd’s death, are exactly when it’s most important for elected officials to keep a level head.

“This wasn’t something she said when she was 19,” Junge said. “She was an adult, she had a professional background, and she should have shown better judgment.”

[…]

The next day after McDonald-Rivet protested in Bay City, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer violated her own social distancing executive order for COVID-19 and marched shoulder-to-shoulder with protesters in Highland Park, a small Detroit suburb. Whitmer, who has endorsed McDonald-Rivet in the House race, has said she supports the “spirit” of defunding the police.

[…]

Junge said that in running against Kildee, even fellow Republicans would tell him they liked him, but voted for Kildee, because they had known him for years. Without a Kildee on the ballot, and with a new district that leans more conservative, Junge said he likes his chances better.