Democrat Cori Bush Defends Riot at St. Louis Jail: ‘Language of the Unheard’

Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) received criticism over the weekend when she showed support for the rioters inside a St. Louis jail.

“Inmates at the City Justice Center​ broke windows, started fires and tossed debris onto the sidewalk for hours beginning early Saturday morning after a prisoner and a guard got into a scuffle,” the New York Post reported Sunday.

In a tweet posted Saturday, Bush quoted Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., writing, “‘A riot is the language of the unheard.’ – Dr. MLK Jr.”

“I want to talk to my constituents in the window,” she continued. “Their lives and their rights must be protected. My team and I are working to ensure that the urgent needs of people who are incarcerated are not ignored”:

“A riot is the language of the unheard.” – Dr. MLK Jr.

I want to talk to my constituents in the window. Their lives and their rights must be protected.

My team and I are working to ensure that the urgent needs of people who are incarcerated are not ignored. https://t.co/wMq8ecyLQ2

— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) February 7, 2021

While many followers praised the representative and agreed with her tweet, dissenters referred to her comments following the violence at the Capitol building on January 6.

“So 1 / 6 was ‘the language of the unheard,’ correct?” one user commented.

“‘Riots are only the language of the unheard when the language they’re speaking is something I agree with and support’ – Cori Bush,” another replied.

On January 6, Bush tweeted that her first resolution in Congress would be to call for the removal of “Republican members of Congress who incited this domestic terror attack on the Capitol”:

My first resolution in Congress will be to call for the expulsion of the Republican members of Congress who incited this domestic terror attack on the Capitol.

— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) January 6, 2021

In reply to her post on Saturday, another Twitter user pointed out that King “condemned riots in this speech and reaffirmed his commitment to non-violence.”

During his 1967 speech titled “The Other America” and delivered at Stanford University, Dr. King stated:

Let me say as I’ve always said, and I will always continue to say, that riots are socially destructive and self-defeating. I’m still convinced that nonviolence is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom and justice. I feel that violence will only create more social problems than they will solve.

The disturbance at the St. Louis City Justice Center was reportedly the third in recent weeks.

“Previous incidents occurred during the last week in December when inmates expressed concerns over unsafe conditions due to the coronavirus,” according to Breitbart News.