On Thursday, Michigan Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer marched along with demonstrators with her hands held up as they chanted “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot!” The marchers were responding to the death of George Floyd, whose death while in police custody triggered protests, riots and looting across the nation.
.@GovWhitmer @LtGovGilchrist and Bishop Charles Ellis lead a group of marchers in Detroit honoring the life of #GeorgeFloyd. Marchers call out "hands up, don't shoot!" @wxyzdetroit @ABC pic.twitter.com/ExR28L3dIm
— Jenn Schanz (@JennSchanzWXYZ) June 4, 2020
Whitmer marching in close proximity with protesters would seem to be at odds with her own policy; in May, a Michigan barber who reopened his shop in the face of Whitmer’s orders got his business and professional licenses suspended. Dana Nessel, the state’s attorney general, issued a statement saying, “Mr. Manke’s actions in violating Gov. Whitmer’s executive orders as well as other health orders put the public at risk for contracting Covid-19. Any time you have a barber or other professional providing services to numerous citizens in close proximity to each other and those citizens are then returning to their various residences, there is a risk of contracting and spreading the virus. It is paramount that we take action to protect the public and do our part to help save lives.”
Last week, The Daily Wire reported:
Michigan Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer admitted on Tuesday that her husband, Marc Mallory, asked a boating company for special treatment because he was married to her, which comes after Whitmer’s office called the allegation a “rumor” yesterday and suggested that it could be “misinformation.”
The controversy surrounded a report that her husband called a boating company and asked them to put their boat on the water before Memorial Day weekend and, when told it wouldn’t be done by then, asked for special treatment because he was “the husband to the governor.” Adding to the controversy was the fact that Whitmer urged people to not go to that area if they did not live there, and while she and her husband own a second home there, it’s an approximately 200-mile drive from their main residence, the governor’s mansion, in Lansing. She later claimed that he drove across the state to rake leaves at the second home and then came home.
Although the marchers chanted “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot!” on Thursday, Floyd was not shot by police in the incidents surrounding his death; the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot!” chant was a reference to the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in August 2014. Brown was shot and killed by Officer Darren Wilson of the Ferguson Police Department, catalyzing the meme “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot!” to become a buzzword for police malfeasance, despite the fact that the Obama Justice Department, in deciding not to prosecute Wilson, stated:
Although there are several individuals who have stated that Brown held his hands up in an unambiguous sign of surrender prior to Wilson shooting him dead, their accounts do not support a prosecution of Wilson. As detailed throughout this report, some of those accounts are inaccurate because they are inconsistent with the physical and forensic evidence; some of those accounts are materially inconsistent with that witness’s own prior statements with no explanation, credible for otherwise, as to why those accounts changed over time. Certain other witnesses who originally stated Brown had his hands up in surrender recanted their original accounts, admitting that they did not witness the shooting or parts of it, despite what they initially reported either to federal or local law enforcement or to the media.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.