Video: Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11) Says He’s a “Child of the 1960s” and Supports “god-given American right” to Protest Peacefully – “as long as other people’s rights are also respected and the law is not broken”

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11) nails it on student protests, Israel/Gaza and the dynamics in the US House right now. Check out the video and highlights, below.

• “First of all, I guess I should say…I’m a child of the 1960s. So I protested against the war, I rallied for and marched for civil rights…so I’d be a hypocrite if I were to say I object to peaceful protests by students in the current war. I think that’s a god-given American right and I think it is to be respected  – as long as other people’s rights are also respected and the law is not broken. If you protest and you choose to break the, law you’ve decided that you are willing to be arrested and pay the consequence for that to make a point. And so you don’t you can’t have it both ways – if you’re breaking the law as part of your protest, you are subject to arrest and prosecution, and you’re going to have to accept that as the cost you’re paying for the choice you made.”
• “I think occupying a building is illegal…that building is for either at a public university a public purpose to educate others and you’re denying them that that right, that access. I think hate speech may not always be a crime, but I don’t think that’s part of peaceful protest – it’s provocative and it is menacing and threatening to others. I also believe counter protest as we saw in California have to also be peaceful and abide by these rules. What happened in California the other night was despicable – it was a mob, premeditated set of violence against peaceful protesters by all accounts because they didn’t like the particular pro-Palestinian message. And the police tolerated it; they stood aside and allowed it to go on for hours. That’s very reminiscent of what happened sometimes in peaceful protest in the 1960s against the war and pro Civil Rights Movement. So I hate to see that revisited and I think we’ve got to make sure that the rules are clear and applicable to to everybody.”
• “Given the humanitarian catastrophe that is and has unfolded in Gaza already, the idea that we’re going to inflict even more in Rafah with 1.5  million people living in and around Rafah is to me unacceptable, repugnant, unthinkable. And therefore I believe President Biden needs to use his presidential discretion to withhold any and all offensive weapons that could conceivably be used in such an assault –  an assault he’s already told Bibi Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, not to pursue. So that’s the U.S. position – don’t do it. So let’s not support it.”
• “This Democrat is not going to vote to help Mike Johnson; I’m not  going to support him, I’m not going to vote to table a motion of vacate, I want Hakeem Jeffries as the next Speaker and that’s how I’m going to vote. And I think it’s a mistake personally for Democrats to find themselves supporting the most ideologically conservative right-wing Speaker in American history. Why would we align ourselves with that? Having said that, I think what Hakeem Jeffries has done is really quite cleverly Machiavellian – he may not intend it that way, but from a political science point of view it sure looks Machiavellian. So he is kind of basically saying with one hand we’re gonna help you, but with the other he’s also not saying but it’s quite obvious, you wouldn’t survive without our help, once again proving you can’t get anything done in this Congress without Democrats – including holding on to your own job. That’s a pretty delicious political statement and move by Hakeem Jeffries and very powerful.”

I am a child of the 1960s. I protested the war as a student. I rallied and marched for civil rights. I was a draft counselor. I believe protest is a God-given, American right that must be resepected so long as the rights of others are also respected and the law is not broken. pic.twitter.com/I2sIfxfEPF

— Rep. Gerry Connolly (@GerryConnolly) May 5, 2024