The Black Lives Matter activist who said outside the house of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that he should be killed refused to apologize for her remarks, claiming she doesn’t regret them.
A live broadcast on Facebook showed Chanelle Helm, the leader of the group’s Louisville chapter, saying, “Just stab the [expletive] in the heart.”
She also said of McConnell, who broke his shoulder after tripping on his patio recently and was recovering inside as protesters gathered near the home, “should have broken his little raggedy, wrinkled-[expletive] neck.”
Helm said that she doesn’t regret her remarks and declined to apologize.
“McConnell doesn’t care about people who actually do break their necks, who need insulin, who need any type of medication, because they want to stop and prevent health care for all,” she told the Louisville Courier-Journal. “And that is something that every American out here wants. There’s only a few Americans who don’t want that, and those people are politicians and their cronies.”
Helm told WHAS that she did not threaten McConnell and that she was talking about a voodoo doll.
“There were no death threats given to Mitch McConnell last night,” Helm said. “People want us to be nice and to be complacent to these folks who are killing us. Absolutely not. Any way and by any means possible.”
The protest drew the attention of Gov. Matt Bevin, a Republican, who tagged Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and accused him of “allowing public disorder,” calling it “embarrassing.”
After he responded, saying, “I stand with those calling on @senatemajldr to return to DC and protect our families from more death,” Bevin wondered if he supported the death threats against McConnell. Fischer then said that “any such calls are repulsive and obviously condemned.”
In statements, McConnell’s team said that the senator “believes that all citizens have the right to express their opinions peacefully” but said they contacted law enforcement because of the death threats.
“These threats go far beyond a political cartoon or a broken shoulder, they are serious calls to physical violence and we’ve alerted law enforcement,” read one.
Seriously, @louisvillemayor? Stop embarrassing the city of Louisville and the Commonwealth of Kentucky by allowing this public disorder…
Would you stand for this on your street? Doubt it…
We deserve better leadership in @louisvillekygov https://t.co/b3QCWprZL2
— Governor Matt Bevin (@GovMattBevin) August 6, 2019
I stand with those calling on @senatemajldr to return to DC and protect our families from more death. Our people deserve that.
— Mayor Greg Fischer (@louisvillemayor) August 6, 2019
Any such calls are repulsive and obviously condemned. Instead, all of us need to find ways to work together to END senseless gun violence. America, the country we all love, deserves no less.
— Mayor Greg Fischer (@louisvillemayor) August 6, 2019
Helm, who has previously been seen hugging Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) at an event, was named in June as part of Louisville’s “Synergy Project” by Fischer. It wasn’t clear if she’d be removed after the death threats.
Helm on her Twitter account describes herself as follows: “I’m a lover and a fighter but don’t push me!”
Her pinned tweet states: “They know not what they do: beat us, shoot us, kill us… only American citizens they’ve bombed! What a threat it is to be black in America!”
Two of her recent tweets were about a misleading Daily Beast article that misquoted McConnell’s campaign, who responded to a picture of males with a cutout of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) by saying the teens weren’t part of McConnell’s campaign.
“McConnell’s campaign manager essentially says boys will be boys,” the Beast claimed.
The tweet was shared by Ocasio-Cortez, who turned the misleading summary into an actual quote.
They know not what they do: beat us, shoot us, kill us…only American citizens they’ve bombed! What a threat it is to be black in America!
— Chanelle Helm (@ChanelleHelm) October 15, 2014
“’Boys will be boys.’ Is that also the reason why you’ve chosen to block the Violence Against Women act too, @senatemajldr?” she wrote in one missive.
Helm has also shared content from radical activists Emily Gorcenski, Shaun King, and Symone Sanders, a spokeswoman for former Vice President Joe Biden, and who once said, “We don’t need white people leading the Democratic Party.”
In 2017, Helm penned a manifesto telling “white people” 10 things they should do to support black people.
“White people, if you don’t have any descendants, will your property to a black or brown family. Preferably one that lives in generational poverty,” she wrote for one recommendation.
For another, she wrote: “White people, if you can afford to downsize, give up the home you own to a black or brown family. Preferably a family from generational poverty.”
