The Congresswoman Pepper-Sprayed by Police

In that moment, Beatty told me, she wasn’t a member of Congress. She was just another black American attacked while protesting injustice—one of innumerable others across the long expanse of history. The events of the past week, she said, represent “a collection of historic anger.”

I talked with Beatty about that anger, and the response from those in positions of power. Our interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Elaine Godfrey: Could you walk me through your day yesterday? How did you end up at the protests, and what happened there?

Joyce Beatty: I wanted to go and stand in solidarity with the protesters, because they were peaceful protesters. They wanted their voices to be heard in light of what has happened nationally, because if something happens directly to one of us, it happens indirectly to all of us.

It was about standing up for George Floyd, what happened to Ahmaud Arbery; it was about what happened to Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, and all of those before. I wanted to be a part of that and to show [that] this is my community, my district. I wanted to show them that I am not only their congressperson, but I’m also a black woman out here who sits on the floor with the honorable John Lewis—understanding that peaceful protesting is something that we should all be doing.

Racism is still alive. We see that all over the nation. We see the disparities. We see the voter suppression. That’s why I was there—as an individual who happens to also be the people’s congresswoman.

Adam Serwer: Birtherism of a nation

Godfrey: What happened at the protest after you arrived?

Beatty: It was a two-hour event, and an hour and 45 minutes [into] the event, absolutely no issues, no problem. Police were deployed at the end. At that point, there were protesters who went in the street [which was against the rules of the protest]. Now, many of those police officers were gracious. [But as protesters kept moving, another group of officers] were more aggressive with their bicycles and shields, pushing people back, even though they were on the sidewalk. There were some people who put their foot on the street, showing their defiance. But they were not in the middle of the street.

I’m not sure what happened, but there was an altercation of some kind verbally, and the next thing we knew [a man] was grabbed and tossed over the bicycles into the street. A police officer pushed and hit a woman with his bicycle—she was next to me, and she was a young sister. My instincts kicked in; I remember saying, “This is wrong, stop, stop!” And my arms went up in the air to grab her, and at that point, pepper spray immediately came.

Could it have been handled differently? I believe so. I think it was unnecessary force. It was not directly at me, but here’s what I [do] know: Pepper spray is not really directional. If you look at one of the photos, clearly there is an officer within six or seven inches of a young girl sitting on the ground, at the curb, being pepper-sprayed, and me and a couple other elected officials are right next to her. So it hit all of us, but it was not a point-and-direct spray at me. I do want to be very open and transparent with that.