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.
"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.
