Fox trotted out one of its favorite African-American black attackers, Sheriff David Clarke, to blame President Obama and “black slime” #BlackLivesMatter for the slaying of a deputy sheriff in Texas on Saturday.
As the Justice with Judge Jeanine show went on the air, a Fox News Alert told us that a black suspect had been arrested and charged in the murder of a white deputy sheriff in Harris County, Texas. Pirro announced, “The motive? Nothing clear as of now.”
But Pirro seemed to think she had all the “evidence” she and her pal, Clarke, needed to conclude that this was the fault of #BlackLivesMatter and, of course, President Obama.
Never mind that an interview with Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman made it clear he had no idea why his deputy had been killed.
Pirro asked, “Is this something that is almost predictable?” She meant “predictable” because of the #BlackLivesMatter protests.
“Actually, no,” the sheriff told her, adding that there had not been any problems in his community.
Then came Milwaukee County sheriff Clarke. He was not in Texas and had done no apparent investigation into the case. Clarke has previously blamed President Obama for the murder of two New York City police officers and he has accused Obama of “enjoying” the violence that erupted in Baltimore last spring. He has also said #BlackLivesMatter protestors should “go back into the sewers they came from.”
But I have yet to hear him utter a peep about Fox’s promotion of armed insurrection against law enforcers back when they were championing law-breaking rancher Cliven Bundy.
Clarke’s sentiments about the Texas deputy killing were predictable but his rhetoric reached new levels of inflammatory:
CLARKE: I said last December that war had been declared on the American police officer, led by some high-profile people, one of them coming out of the White House, one coming out of the United States Department of Justice.
… I’m tired of hearing people call these black activists – they’re not black activists. This is black slime and it needs to be eradicated from the American society.
…This whole movement – Black Lies, I’ve renamed it… because it’s based on a lie, the ‘hands up, don’t shoot.’ That’s why I said this slime needs to be eradicated from American society and American culture.
…The president of the United States started this war on police.
Pirro did not challenge one word other than to ask how #BlackLivesMatter could be "eradicated."
You can hear Clarke’s (fortunately non-violent) “solution” below, along with the rest of Fox News' deliberate effort to use this tragedy to exacerbate racial tensions, from the August 29 Justice with Jeanine.
So her lead-in clip says “it’s open season on police.” It apologizes for police abuse with the cliché “a few bad apples.” If Fox News is fair and balanced the same standards are applied to #BlackLivesMatter. Naturally, they see it as a one-way street. Stand up for police, attack blacks protesting injustice. That’s GOP TV’s modus operandi.
This logic should, of course, work both ways. Even if this is the actions of a black man seeking revenge based on news stories like Ferguson, he’s the isolated bad apple. Unfortunately, Fox News uses him as an excuse to defame the entire movement. And, naturally, blame Obama – Fox never misses that opportunity!
Fox News smears #BlackLivesMatter like its some sort of racial supremacy group. Just the opposite. It could be renamed “black lives matter too.”
Pirro and her guest not only don’t get it, it’s probably one of the most hateful and disgusting segments I’ve ever witnessed on Fox News. That’s saying a lot!
Of course, make sure that someone’s there recording the action to intervene before things can get too “out of hand.” I mean, no one would want Clarke to actually be “accidentally” killed at the hands of his racist “brothers in arms” who “feared for their lives” because the scary-looking Black man was armed and threatening them.
*I was going to write “lit cigarette” but that might be stretching the scene just a little too far.