The rapper also took on conservative commenter Tomi Lahren.
Cardi B joined the swelling chorus of artists speaking out about the police-related death of George Floyd, after a video of a Minneapolis officer kneeling on the unarmed black man’s neck sparked several nights of rioting and protests in the city amid calls for the arrest and charging of the four officers involved in the fatal incident.
“They looting in Minnesota and as much as I don’t like this type of violence it is what it is,” tweeted Cardi on Thursday alongside a video of a Minneapolis Target seemingly getting looted by rioters. “Too much peaceful marches, too much trending hashtags and NO SOLUTIONS! The people are left with NO CHOICE.”
She also replied “Facts!” to a Twitter user who wrote, “The fact that these police are letting the entire city burn down so they can stand in-front and protect the house of this murderer. these people are SICK.”
Things escalated a bit later when conservative political commentator and Fox Nation host Tomi Lahren offered her thoughts on the Minneapolis protests.
“How does looting, rioting and destroying your OWN community bring justice for anyone?” Lahren tweeted. “How does targeting, profilin,beating and murdering black men with no consequence equal serving and protecting?”
Cardi responded. “Who’s giving them justice and trust on cops ? Mind your business and eat your salad !”
On Friday morning (May 29), Cardi posted a two-minute video expounding on her feelings about police brutality and the protests, which, according to reports, have spread across the country to New York, Columbus, Louisville, Memphis, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Portland and several other cities.
“Seeing people looting and going extremely outraged, it makes me feel like, ‘Yes! Finally! Finally motherf—ers is gonna hear us now. Yeah!’ And as much as people is so against it, at this point I feel like I’m not against it,” Cardi said, admitting that the scenes of fires set by protesters and police in riot gear do scare her, and she doesn’t want anyone to get hurt.
“It’s really frustrating… police brutality been going on even way before I was born,” she said, noting that it seems to be more visible these days thanks to social media, with an endless stream of peaceful protests and endlessly repeating trending hashtags. “I feel like I have done videos against police brutality, I feel like this is like my seventh time. I feel I’ve been doing police brutality videos ever since my teeth been f—ed up. And the only s–t that changed has been my f—ing teeth.”
Cardi said citizens are educated and could take the “grown and adult way” of peaceful protest, but that people are “tired of that” so rioting is what people have to resort to. The rapper then offered up one concrete solution for what Americans can do to take power: vote. “And when I say voting I’m not only talking about the president,” said Cardi, who has been a vocal supporter of former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders. “We could vote for mayors, we could vote for judges and we could also vote for D.A.’s (district attorneys).”
It was the latest time this week that Cardi has weighed in on Floyd’s death, which has sparked a number of investigations, including by the FBI and local law enforcement. Pres. Trump appeared to fan the flames further on Thursday when he referred to the protesters as “thugs” on Twitter and posted the phrase “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” which the social media site attached a warning to, saying it violated the company’s rules about “glorifying violence.”
See Cardi’s tweets below.