Southern State Lawmaker Threatens Riots After General Assembly Passes Pro-Police Bill

By Samantha Chang March 18, 2024 at 7:09am

Tennessee state Sen. Charlane Oliver — a race-baiting Democrat — threatened to incite riots after the GOP-led Senate in Nashville approved an anti-crime bill that bars local governments from preventing the police from conducting routine traffic stops.

Senate Bill 2572 and its House counterpart, HR 1931, block local governments from enacting an ordinance that “prohibits or limits the ability of a law enforcement agency to conduct traffic stops based on observation of, or reasonable suspicion that, the operator or a passenger in a vehicle has violated a local ordinance or state or federal law.”

SB 2572 would nullify an ordinance passed last year by the Memphis City Council that barred the Memphis Police Department from making traffic stops for vehicles with expired tags or broken brake lights or headlights.

The council passed the bill in April 2023, three months after a black man, Tyre Nichols, was fatally beaten by five black MPD officers during a traffic stop.

Despite the fact that all five officers charged with second-degree murder in the Nichols case are black — as is Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis — Oliver frivolously played the race card, claiming SB 2572 was “rooted in racism.”

“It is a slap in the face, and you might as well stomp on the grave of Tyre Nichols for bringing this bill,” she said during a news conference Friday after the state Senate passed the bill in a 26-6 vote.

Oliver — a vocal supporter of the race-hustling, anti-police Black Lives Matter movement — also accused Republican state Sen. Brent Taylor, who sponsored SB 2572, of pushing a law designed to target black people.

“Yes, we are emotionally charged,” she said. “Why? Because it’s personal for us. Taylor made this personal the minute he introduced this legislation to target one family and one life that was lost.”

The state senator then used a warped interpretation of a quote by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to threaten riots if the anti-crime bill is enacted.

Should those who call for riots be held accountable if they happen?

“So yeah, we’re going to fight. Dr. King said the riots are the language of the unheard. You ain’t seen nothing yet,” Oliver warned. “If you keep silencing us like this, what do you think our district is going to do? We have had it up here.

“Gloves are off. Like, we gonna fight like hell. You don’t expect us to respond when you gaslight us every single day with these bills?”

‘Gloves Off:’ Sen. @CharlaneOliver (D-Nashville) Calls for Riots after TN Senate Passes @SenBrentTaylor Pro-Police Bill.

“It is rooted in racism,” Oliver said. “This is a Jim Crow bill that [Sen. Brent] Taylor brought and all his Confederates voted for it.” Video @FOXNashville pic.twitter.com/F7rhyeAwzu

— KWAM News Radio 990 AM Memphis (@Mighty990KWAM) March 15, 2024

Predictably, Oliver played the worn-out race card to denounce SB 2572, whose aim is to enhance public safety.

“Don’t tell me this stuff ain’t racist. … It is rooted in racism,” she said. “This was a Jim Crow bill that Taylor brought and all his Confederates voted for it today.”

Taylor rebuked the Democrat in a post on social media, responding, “Despite your overwhelming support for my bill that prohibits local governments from banning legal routine traffic stops, leftist opposition has been insane and totally out of touch with reality and our community’s demands.”

Despite your overwhelming support for my bill that prohibits local governments from banning legal routine traffic stops, leftist opposition has been insane and totally out of touch with reality and our community’s demands. pic.twitter.com/bAGXDyO12C

— Senator Brent Taylor (@SenBrentTaylor) March 15, 2024

As a reminder, driving with broken headlights or brake lights endangers public safety because it can lead to car accidents and deaths.

Doing so is already a violation of state law for which police can pull you over, so enforcing it isn’t “racist.”

If anything, it’s racist for Charlane Oliver to suggest that black people routinely drive around with expired registrations and broken tail lights.

By now, left-wing accusations of “racism” are so common and predictable they’re essentially meaningless.

Ensuring public safety is, and should be, the primary concern of all politicians. Period.

An Important Message from Our Staff:

In just a few months, the world is going to change forever. The 2024 election is the single most important election of our lifetime.

We here at The Western Journal are committed to covering it in a way the establishment media simply will not: We will tell the truth, and they will lie.

But Big Tech and the elites don’t want the truth out. That’s why they have cut us off from 90% of advertisers. Imagine if someone cut your monthly income by 90%. That’s what they’ve done to people like us.

As a staff, we are asking you to join us to fight this once-in-a-lifetime fight. Without you not only will The Western Journal fail, but America will fail also. As Benjamin Franklin said, “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

Will you support The Western Journal today and become a member?

A Western Journal Membership costs less than one coffee and breakfast sandwich each month, and it gets you access to ALL of our content — news, commentary, and premium articles. You’ll experience a radically reduced number of ads, and most importantly you will be vitally supporting the fight for America’s soul in 2024.

This is the time. America will live or die based on what happens this year. Please join us to get the real truth out and to fight the elites, Big Tech, and the people who want America to fail. Together, we really can save the country.

Thank you for your support!

P.S. Please stand with us!

Submit a Correction →