On Sunday, Sen. Mitt Romney participated in a protest march through Washington D.C. that was organized by local pastors to protest the death of George Floyd.
Washington Post journalist Hannah Natanson, tweeted a video of Romney participating in the march. In the video, Romney states that he’s marching to end “violence and brutality and to make sure that people understand that black lives matter.”
.@MittRomney is marching with a group of nearly 1,000 Christians to the White House. Here he is on video saying why he’s walking: “… to make sure that people understand that Black Lives Matter” https://t.co/KCxJNchCMs pic.twitter.com/Za0Am2WL8g
— Hannah Natanson (@hannah_natanson) June 7, 2020
Marchers walked along closed roads toward the White House in a march meant to resemble the 1965 Selma-Montgomery civil rights march in Alabama.
The day before the march, Romney had tweeted an image of his father, George Romney, marching in a civil rights protest in the 1960s in Detroit.
The march kicked off with inspiring words from Rev. Vernon Mitchell of Evergreen Baptist Church in Southeast D.C., “God, we trust in you. We are putting our lives in your hands.”
The group was guarded by police motorcycles. As they marched, they chanted “Black lives matter!” and sang “This Little Light of Mine.”
Romney criticized the Trump administration last week for clearing peaceful protesters across from the White House with flash grenades, pepper spray, and rubber bullets so Trump could hold a photo-op in front of St. John’s church.
Romney stated that the “murder of George Floyd shocked and sickened me” and that he respects those who have protested and demanded the country address racism and brutality.
“From the news clips I have seen, the protesters across from the White House were orderly and nonviolent. They should not have been removed by force and without warning, particularly when the apparent purpose was to stage a photo op,” he said.
