Things got heated when Rev. Jesse Jackson visited Fox News to discuss the Charlotte protests over the police killing of Keith Lamont Scott. Jackson tried to explain the perspective of African Americans there and some of the causes of the violence that erupted. But host Neil Cavuto was too busy scolding about black crime.
Of course, nobody at News Hounds advocates or excuses violence. But there is something to be said for understanding it. “Dr. King said riots are the voices of the unheard,” Jackson told Cavuto. “We need to address the source of the rebellion.” He also said, “One of the biggest looters this week was the bank. It’s had to fire 5300 people.”
But Cavuto was fixated on whether Jackson was being too lenient with Blacks Behaving Badly.
“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Cavuto said about the bank. “Don’t switch subjects, Reverend. You know I respect you, but I’m saying to you, do you find that what happened last night, got out of control when so many started attacking structures, attacking police vehicles, breaking into stores, many of them black-owned businesses. Is that fair?”
Of course, Jackson didn’t think it was fair. “But then when the police literally […] shoots someone with their hands up in the air, again, that’s wrong,” he said. “And those who do it should face the full weight of quick justice.”
Cavuto continued trying to suggest that Jackson was overly partial to African Americans. “But you seem to be saying that all 680 cases that we’ve seen in the past year and a half where blacks were shot by police were all that way. Were there not some that were legitimate, where a gun was involved?”
“Shooting people in the back is not legitimate,” Jackson said.
“Reverend, careful, because you always say don’t generalize,” Cavuto lectured. “If that happened 680 times, you’re absolutely right. It did not.”
Jackson brought up the Walter Scott and Eric Garner cases.
So Cavuto had to bring up cops getting shot. “Do you have the same rage about that?” Cavuto asked suspiciously.
“You don’t see a lot of cops getting shot, but they shouldn’t get shot,” Jackson replied.
But Cavuto sounded more like a prosecuting attorney than a news anchor: “You’re upset when people are shot in these instances that you mentioned, but you aren’t when it happens to a cop,” he accused. “Have you had protests and rallies when it’s happened to cops?”
“Would you arrest those who got so violent that they set fire to vehicles, they set fire to retail establishments, they broke in and looted those establishments?” Cavuto continued. “Would you say you’re disgracing the message of Dr. King, and ‘I will not support that behavior?’”
The discussion went on like that for a while until Jackson said, “Can you imagine for a moment if we had this many black police shooting white folks in the back? What would your response be?”
“I would peacefully protest my rage,” Cavuto insisted.
But as Jackson kept trying to tell Cavuto, the rage was about more than just the shootings. Who knows what Cavuto’s or somebody else’s boiling point would be?
Watch it below, from the September 22, 2016 Your World.
… so Jesse talks unarmed blacks with their hands up then Cavuto wants to talk cops getting shot and poses the ridiculous talking point all of the 600+ shootings aren’t that.
Yes, Captain Obvious, we knew most police shootings are probably justified. So can we get back onto the topic you introduced and talk those that don’t pass the smell test?
Fox News. Consistent crap analysis. 👍
Jesse Jackson stood shoulder to shoulder with Martin Luther King for Christ’s sake! I think he was even there on April 4,1968.