With the George Floyd protests getting out of hand, a certain Pamela Hancock, who is in her second term as prosecutor of the Madison County, tries to defend herself on Monday after posting and later on deleting a Facebook comment saying that she hopes that the deadly strain of coronavirus would spread among the rioters who are actually protesting inequality throughout the criminal justice system.
Pamela Hancock's comment
Hancock was previously elected county prosecutor back in 2015 and was then re-elected in 2019. She wrote the post in the comment section of another person's post asking if COVID spreads throughout the massive street riots or just in the juice bars and restaurants. Ending the comment with an "asking for a friend."
Hancock replied to the comment saying "we can only hope" that the deadly coronavirus strain actually spreads through the riots. In a phone interview she had with Mississipi Today, she tried to defend herself saying that her job is to prosecute all of the criminals and these include those that participate in civil disobedience.
She then noted that she is against any form of breach of the peace or even criminal activity and that she would be prosecuting it. She then defended herself by saying that she has nothing against those people who peacefully protest but when it came to people breaking into businesses and looting, this is considered a crime.
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Hancock's defense
When the prosecutor was then asked about her own expressed notion that the virus actually kill the rioters, Hancock then rebuffed. She said that she was "just making light" out of the situation and that she was not at all serious about wanting any individual to die.
Hancock said "that's not who I am" and explained that she only posted that as a joke and was attempting to actually get a joke back.
She noted that she also did it very poorly and stated that the people who know her know that she does not hold any ill will towards any individual or any group. She also said that she tries "to be fair."
Brandon Jones comments
The policy director at the esteemed Southern Poverty Law Center located in Jackson, Brandon Jones, said that it has been an incredibly difficult few numbers of days and that it is only general to hope that certain prosecutors would actually be reflective on how to tackle these issues. Brandon Jones also said that because she is an elected official, her message actually "sends all the wrong messages."
The public distress over the death of George Floyd has gotten worse over the last few days as peaceful protests turned into looting and many small business owners are suffering as the mobs vandalize, steal, and destroy both public and private property. Even George Floyd's brother said that Floyd was a peaceful man and that the looting should end.
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