A Missouri state senator has called the Ferguson riots the beginning of a "race war," blasting the state government and the Democratic Party for decades of racism and ominously warning of more trouble to come.
Maria Chappelle-Nadal, 40, a member of the state House since 2005 and the Senate since 2011, told MSNBC, "This is St. Louis' race war. We did not have a race war like other cities throughout the country. This is our race war," and added a warning of "what's going to go down in the coming days."
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Chappelle-Nadal, an African-American legislator, has been a constant and supportive presence among the Ferguson demonstrators since the August shooting of Michael Brown by white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson.
"There has been systematic racism institutionally in state government for decades, including my own state party, so what we are looking at right now is a symptom of racism that has been swept under the rug for decades," she told MSNBC.
"People are angry and they are hurt and they are trying to figure out how are they going to receive justice."
During the protests, Chappelle-Nadal often waved a cutout photo of Missouri's Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon, calling him "Flat Jay," and told
Mediaite, "Our governor, Governor Nixon, has been absent from the minority community, not for a few years, but for a few decades, and this is inexcusable. And he only comes to the minority community when it’s politically expedient.
"And now that the world’s eyes are on Missouri, the governor is now here. But he’s not really at Ground Zero. He’s never come to Ground Zero … For that, I call him a coward."
Nixon shot back, "I try to put gasoline into the engine of fire engines when I see them, not on the fires that are existing. I find doing that is more productive," according to an Associated Press report in the
Missourian.
Chappelle-Nadal has said worse. On her Twitter site, she has posed in a gas mask and blasted Nixon with obscenities, the
St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
The Facebook page,
"We Are Darren Wilson" took aim at Chappelle-Nadal, saying she "has also made it very clear that she does not like the white police in Ferguson, or anywhere. She has no filter on her hate for law enforcement," The Post-Dispatch reported.
Ferguson resident Christine LaPorta, who ran against Chappelle-Nadal as a write-in candidate, said she felt that Chappelle-Nadal's comments were "inappropriate for a senator," the Post-Dispatch said.
Chappelle-Nadal told MSNBC, "From my own experience I know of people in my own party, in my own government structure, who disregard things we say and how we feel and we are not going to allow it anymore.
"Right now, my community is hurting. They are in pain. They have been in pain before Michael Brown. Having to look at Michael Brown's body for 4½ hours injured them more.
"I have constituents who have PTSD. I have constituents who have no hope."
She promised to take action to change "excessive force" statutes in the state, MSNBC reported.
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