Things feel so dark, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says on riots, coronavirus and Midland flooding – MLive.com

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer provided blunt statements on how Michigan in 2020 has faced crisis after crisis, saying it is hard to believe on a beautiful Sunday that things feel so dark.

She traded statements with Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist in a social media post about how the state has dealt with the COVID-19 outbreak, the Midland dam flooding and this weekend, violence erupting at police brutality protests.

We have collectively been devastated by a global pandemic, Whitmer said. One that has killed 5,463 of our brothers and sisters.

We are grappling with a once-in-500-year flooding event, Gilchrist said next.

And now we are seeing the historic inequities of racial injustice coming to a tipping point in communities across America, including here in Michigan Whitmer said.

As of Sunday, May 31, 56,884 Michiganders have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the statewide database. The 7-day average of daily case increases has fallen for the last three weeks, with the week ending on May 27 showing an average of 360 cases and 34 deaths a day.

More than a week after the Midland floods, peaceful police brutality protests turned violent overnight on Friday, May 29 in Detroit and especially on Saturday, May 30 in Detroit and Grand Rapids. Other protests carried on without much violence in places such as Flint, Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor.

Police brutality protests in Michigan: What you need to know from this weekends rallies, riots

Gilchrist blamed the outbreak of violence on national leadership that has stoked the flames of division in the country, echoing President Donald Trumps comparison of rioters in Minneapolis as thugs.

Where there should be national leadership that inspires leaders at every level to speak to our collective national need for everyone to feel safe, empowered and hopeful, Gilchrist said, there is intolerance, and worse, an apparent desire to fan the flames of division in the country.

Outside of telling communities to find pre-planned areas of protest on Saturday, this is the first time Whitmers administration spoke about the riots that started in Michigan on Friday.

Gov. Whitmer wants designated areas for peaceful protesting as unrest continues nationwide

Whitmer then juxtaposed the peaceful protest of former San Francisco 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick to the Minneapolis police officers knee that choked the life out of George Floyd.

When a black man simply kneels in peaceful protest and becomes villified, but a white man with a badge and a gun kneels the breath out of George Floyd and does so without compunction, she said, it is wrong, infuriating, devastating and gut-wrenching.

She continued by saying she is angry at rioters in Grand Rapids and Detroit who came into communities of color in the guise of support, but who instigated violence and vandalism, but not at the protesters who demonstrated peacefully.

She reached out to Michiganders throughout the state to provide the relief we need for the problems statewide.

We are the solution to the problems we are confronting, she said. We cannot let this break us spiritually. We cannot let this break us intellectually."

Read more:

We cannot wait for it to happen again: Michigan civil rights department on George Floyd protests

Grand Rapids mayor orders 7 p.m. curfew after night of rioting

Detroit to impose curfew Sunday night starting at 8 p.m., says Mayor Mike Duggan

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Things feel so dark, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says on riots, coronavirus and Midland flooding - MLive.com