Missouri Rep. Cori Bush took to Twitter on Thursday and shared some of the death threats she has received, saying the threats have only intensified since she’s become a member of Congress and begun “speaking truth in the halls of power.”
Elected in November, Bush is the first Black Congresswoman in Missouri’s history. Since taking office, Bush has prioritized progressive legislation related to racial injustice, criminal justice reform and police reform. In one of the hateful tweets Bush shared to Twitter on Thursday, someone expressed staunch disapproval of her work pursuing police reforms.
“Instead of police reform, how about n—er reform,” the comment said. “As they say in the country, ‘the only good n—er is a dead n—er.”
The threat also included racist attacks on Bush. “You’re going to get yourself murdered if you keep running off that big old gorilla mouth. “You ever see what you look like when you are spewing that sh-t? You need to be put into a f-cking cage at a zoo.”
In another threat, someone made a direct demand for Bush’s death. “Burn slow and hang high you treasonous c–t,” the threat said.
During negotiations earlier this year over police reform, Bush was among a group of Democrats who refused to accept a compromise on a bill that would have allowed officers involved in misconduct claims to remain protected by qualified immunity.
“We compromise on so much. You know, we compromise, we die. We compromise, we die,” Bush told CNN in April. “I didn’t come to Congress to compromise on what could keep us alive. … If you don’t hurt people, if you don’t kill people, if you are just and fair in your work, then do you need the qualified immunity anyway?”
Although Bush has gained greater attention as a vocal member of Congress, she said she’s faced threats since before being elected.
“White supremacists wanted me dead before I came to Congress,” she said in a tweet. The 2014 death of Michael Brown prompted Bush’s involvement in protests, and led her to become involved in politics. She ran for the Senate and lost in 2016 before eventually going on to represent her home congressional district.
The chain of threats shared by Bush highlights the backlash she faces for her progressive stances. “Hopefully when this is all said and done, you will face treason and sedition charges with many other racist tyrants,” a threat said. “Luckily they brought back the firing squad because death by hanging would have been racist. Face pile of dogsh-t.”
Another threat reads, “people like you are driving the racist narrative. all in the name of your personal bank account.just another low life peice of sh-t, i hope somebody defuses your head from your body.”
Along with the threats, Bush shared a message to Twitter regarding the comments.
“Just know: They won’t stop us. They can’t,” she wrote.
