Sandy MaloneAtlanta, GA – Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms took no responsibility for the mayhem that has plagued her city and blamed everything, including the recent murder of an eight-year-old girl by armed protesters, on a lack of leadership from President Donald Trump.
On Monday, CNN’s Brooke Baldwin asked Bottoms about eight-year-old Secoriea Turner, who was gunned down on July 4 when the car she was riding in crossed through an illegal barricade manned by armed protesters.
Instead of addressing the murder of another child in her city, Bottoms deflected.
“Ironically I found a note on my desk, and I don’t even know the context in which I wrote this out but I said ‘I don’t know the answers because I often don’t even know the questions to ask,” the mayor told Baldwin.
“I was listening to [Chicago] Mayor [Lori] Lightfoot, she summed it up,” she continued. “We talk about systemic racism and the trauma and anxiety and all these things that are happening in our communities. And it is this convergence.”
And then she pointed the finger at President Trump.
“And I hate to use the word a perfect storm, but it’s where we are in this country right now,” Bottoms said. “And you think about the leadership or the lack thereof that we have coming from the highest office in the land. I think that you are seeing so many emotions play out. And so, too often, it’s playing out in violence in our streets.”
Unhinged: Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms blames @realDonaldTrump for violence in her city.
CNN's Brooke Baldwin offers ZERO push back.
Reminder @realDonaldTrump: "Every citizen and every community has the right to be … safe in their homes, and safe on our city streets.” pic.twitter.com/TYWOxSfQSM
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) July 6, 2020
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency on Monday afternoon and called out the Georgia National Guard to help protect monuments and government buildings after the bloody July 4th weekend in Atlanta.
More than 31 people were shot, and five died, eight-year-old Secoriea.
Early Sunday morning, violent protesters vandalized and burned the Georgia State Police’s headquarters in Atlanta.
The interview on Monday wasn’t the first time that the Atlanta mayor has deflected the blame for mayhem at the President.
In May, Bottoms called the murder of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia a “lynching” and accused President Trump of inciting racists to act, The Guardian reported.
“With the rhetoric we hearing coming out of the White House in so many ways, I think that many who are prone to being racist are given permission to do it in an overt way we otherwise would not see in 2020,” she said.
Bottoms accused the U.S. Department of Justice under the Trump administration of dropping the ball, according to The Guardian.
“We don’t have that leadership at the top right now. It’s disheartening,” she said.
On Sunday, the mayor announced that it was time for the protesters around the Wendy’s to disperse after weeks of violence around the memorial to Rayshard Brooks, who was fatally shot on June 12 when he stole an officer’s Taser and fired it at another cop.
Atlanta police officers have been calling out of work sick en masse to protest the murder charges Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard filed against former Atlanta Police Officer Garrett Rolfe.
“Now we are demanding action for Secoriea Turner, and all other people who were shot in Atlanta last night,” Bottoms told reporters on July 5. “Enough is enough. If you want people to take us seriously and you don’t want us to lose this movement, we can’t lose each other.”
“We’re doing each other more harm than any police officer on this force,” the mayor said. “We’ve had over 75 shootings in the city over the past several weeks. You can’t blame that on APD.”
Holly Matkin
