Thursday at a Congressional Black Caucus town hall on civil rights, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) encouraged members of Black Lives Matter to get involved in politics and run for office because African Americans “better get controversial” and not be afraid to play the race card.

Waters said, “Let’s work with people who have the passion and you want to do it and to understand how important it is. There are plenty of them in our community but guess what? We don’t associate with them because we think they are too controversial. Black people, you better get controversial. You better be controversial. You had better call it like it is. We have been shut down because others have defined us. When they said to us about 10, 15 years ago, oh, she’s playing the race card. You should say yeah, and I’ve got a lot more I’m going to play.”

“Don’t run away from it,” she continued. “That’s what happens. We stop calling a racist a racist because they said that that’s all you do. You don’t do anything else. Don’t let these people intimidate or scare you. You’ve got to get in the fight, and you’ve got to be in the fight to make some sacrifices, to understand when you’re winning, to continue to work, come to make things happen. And I want to tell you, it is time to take off the handcuffs. It’s time to get in it. It’s time to call it like it is.”

(h/t Grabien)

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN