Jackson Lee: Ferguson Protesters ‘Have the Direction of This Country in Their Hands’

Jackson Lee: Ferguson Protesters ‘Have the Direction of This Country in Their Hands’

Tuesday afternoon on CNN’s “Wolf,” host Wolf Blitzer asked Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) what she thought of the grand jury’s decision in Ferguson.

“I know you’ve been in close contact with the Brown family before this grand jury, have you spoken to them since?” Blitzer asked.

“I have not,” Jackson-Lee replied. “Obviously we know how disappointed they are, and that this is a time for them to find solace amongst themselves.”

“How disappointed were you by all the looting, the fires, the violence?” Blitzer asked.

“It was a dual disappointment, Wolf,” Jackson-Lee explained. “It was a disappointment because the deepness of the pain is hard to quash, and I realize that people were seeking a way to sort of stifle the pain.

“And then the second disappointment was that those individuals who did not heed the call of Mr. Brown, who called for nonviolence and peace, and the president and attorney general who asked for peace, that’s a disappointment because we consider Americans family. We come to them in their time of need and we hope that they are responsive to what would be the best direction to take.”

“I want the young people who are there to realize that we understand that pain is difficult to contain, but I want to say to them that they have the direction of this country in their hands, and they can be great leaders, if they understand the value of nonviolence and directed, constructive solutions.”

Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter @NussBB

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