Скачать или смотреть Rep. Max Rose gives farewell speech on House floor

WASHINGTON — Rep. Max Rose (D-N.Y.) may have gotten hammered in his losing re-election bid for marching in a Black Lives Matter protest, but his farewell message to his soon-to-be former Democratic colleagues in Congress remained: Don’t back down. Rose lost to Republican N.Y. Assemb. Nicole Malliotakis by more than 6 percentage points, according to results certified Monday, swept away by voters in Staten Island and southwestern Brooklyn who favored President Trump. Malliotakis and other Republicans pummeled Rose for attending a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and falsely accused him of wanting to defund the police. Some Democrats have blamed their losses on the GOP’s ability to make such attacks, and counseled toning down language around police reform and social equality. But Rose, in what is likely his last House floor speech, told his fellow Democrats if they are afraid to keep making the case, they don’t deserve their jobs. “In light of recent electoral results, some have begun to wonder if Democrats should soft-pedal the fight for equal justice, if they should take a step back from fighting for economic security, or even just give up,” Rose said. “I’m here to say, ‘Absolutely not.’ This cannot wait. Justice cannot wait. If you aren’t willing to risk everything to build a better country then you do not belong here in the first place,” Rose said. Without mentioning Malliotakis or Republicans, the Army veteran also took aim at a time when “it felt our politics was irredeemable.” He pointed the march he attended, which he said was “used as a weapon to tell my constituents that it’s impossible to believe that Black lives matter while also believing that the vast majority of police officers are heroes.” “Those marchers were called thugs, they were called rioters—just for believing peaceful protest could change this country,” Rose said. “The public was told that their movement was dangerous, not something you should listen to, but something you should be afraid of.” He said his faith was renewed by talking to a cop later who had been on duty for the protest, and said it changed his mind. “That officer saw past the lies, past the differences others have used to divide us,” Rose said. “He witnessed his fellow Americans in pain, and for him, it changed everything.” Not that it helped Rose. Five MTA workers charged with raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars in massive overtime fraud U.S. tops 3,100 COVID deaths in a single day for the first time during pandemic Rapper Casanova surrenders to authorities after he’s indicted in ‘Untouchable Gorilla Stone Nation’ gang takedown “In typical Staten Island fashion though, right after, he told me he wasn’t going to vote for me and that I was still going to lose for a thousand other reasons,” Rose said. Recommended on Daily News