Rudy Giuliani went beyond whitesplaining to what can only be considered a series of racist monologues as he lectured African Americans about black-on-black crime, accused Black Lives Matter of being anti-American, anti-Christian racists and all but blamed them for the murder of five Dallas police officers last week.
Fox host Eric Shawn introduced Giuliani by saying, “He put police officers who broke the law behind bars.” Shawn just forgot to mention that it was none of the three most infamous cases of police brutality during Giuliani’s tenure as mayor (if any). As New York’s Daily News noted, The officers who shot and killed Amadou Diallo and Patrick Dorismond, both unarmed black men, were acquitted. The officer who sodomized Abner Louima was successfully prosecuted by none other than the woman who is now President Obama’s attorney general, Loretta Lynch.
“I believe that Black Lives Matter is a racist organization,” Giuliani claimed. But he offered no proof beyond the name and the fact that they don’t tackle black-on-black crime. “If I had an organization called ‘White Lives Matter,’ you would say that it was a racist organization,” he griped.
Giuliani visited Fox News yesterday apparently in search of consolation for an appearance on CBS’ Face The Nation, in which he also attacked Black Lives Matter, that, apparently, did not go well.
To “prove” he was on the side of angels, Giuliani went on this racial rant:
GIULIANI: Black Lives Matter instigates a lot of the hatred and the division. And every police officer in this country believes that they and their demonstrations, some of which are not non-violent – only the mainstream media makes it appear non-violent. Some of their demonstrations are calling for killing police officers. Slaughtering police officers. Putting targets on the backs of police officers. So I made that point, that both sides have to stop. Zero tolerance for police brutality and Black Lives Matter’s gotta back off and start working on – if you really are concerned about black lives matter, let’s start working on the real way most blacks are killed, like one every 14 hours in Chicago [he gave a hideous chuckle], the real way they are killed, which is black crime and let’s get control of it.
Shawn did a fair job of pushing back. “They would say you have these horrendous police shootings,” he said, such as Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. He also cited “the one in South Carolina,” meaning Walter Scott, presumably. “So they do have legitimate issues.”
Giuliani argued that the cases are being investigated. Then he attacked the governor of Minnesota for saying the Castile killing was racist, “a highly inflammatory thing to do.”
Which is pretty ironic, given Giuliani’s rhetoric. Furthermore, Governor Mark Dayton’s comments were more nuanced and less accusatory than anything Giuliani was saying. What Dayton said was:
“Would this have happened if the driver were white, if the passengers were white?” he asked. “I don’t think it would have.”
“He should have kept his mouth shut,” Giuliani snapped, in another example of his totally not-inflammatory rhetoric.
Then, Mr. Tasteful moved on to race bait President Obama. You may recall that totally-not-racist Giuliani has accused Obama of not loving America.
GIULIANI: President Obama had the nerve to get on television yesterday and say he can’t figure out the motivation of the shooter (of the Dallas police officers). Well, the shooter told us his motivation. Chief Brown had no trouble telling us his motivation. Here’s what is his motivation: to kill white lives, to kill white police officers and to follow Black Lives Matter.
In fact, President Obama was trying to calm the waters (as Giuliani was deliberately trying to fan flames). Obama was not denying that the shooter had a grudge against white people and white cops, but saying there was more to it.
OBAMA: First of all, I think it’s very hard to untangle the motives of this shooter. As we’ve seen in a whole range of incidents with mass shooters, they are, by definition, troubled. By definition, if you shoot people who pose no threat to you—strangers—you have a troubled mind. What triggers that, what feeds it, what sets it off, I’ll leave that to psychologists and people who study these kinds of incidents.
It got to be too much even for Shawn. He asked, “How can you hold, in your view, Black Lives Matter responsible for any of this? It was a peaceful demonstration before this deranged man came out and did this, before the killer opened fire. …Is it really fair to tie them into something that happened in Dallas?”
In a word, yes, Giuliani thought so.
GIULIANI: You just said it. They’re stirring up emotions, their rhetoric, their demonstrations in which they yell and scream, “Kill cops!” Those things are gonna have an impact. Black Lives Matter takes no account of the 99% of the way in which the other black children die, then you have to wonder, what kind of group is this?
Fact check: Giuliani appears to be referring to a group of demonstrators chanting, “Pigs in a blanket, fry ‘em like bacon.” It’s a clip Fox loves to hold up as representative of Black Lives Matter. But the fact is that the group specifically denounces violence. Frankly, if there was any proof that the group screams, "Kill cops!" it would be on Fox 24/7.
Giuliani also ranted about all the good he did for the black community, unlike the “black, Democratic leadership” in Baltimore and Chicago. “I fought and worked for the black community, even though they never voted for me,” he boasted. “There isn’t one of these black racial arsonists that has saved anywhere near the number of black lives that I’ve saved.”
And then came Giuliani’s message to Black Lives Matter:
GIULIANI: My message to them is get rid of the slogan! It is divisive, it’s anti-American, it’s anti-Christian.
Gee, I can’t understand why anyone would think he’s a racist, can you?
Watch it below, from the July 10 America’s News HQ.
Much like Ali Baba opened a cave door with “Open Sesame!” and sorcerers or witches cast horrible spells using “abracacabra!”, terrorism would disappear if only Obama would say “Islamic terrorists” (or ISIS, or “radical Islam”, or whatever). Similarly, racists would immediately stop being racists if only the movement would change its name. Is it possible to be so stupid? The short answer is “Yes”.
In any case, I like John Howard’s proposal on another thread: BLMT (black lives matter, too) would be a more accurate presentation of the idea that’s ALWAYS been behind the movement. Not that I expect that to change the mind or behaviour of any self-respecting racist.
The impulse to protect the young is overwhelming. The Dallas massacre should not come as a surprise.
In the 60s people of color were killed in rioting and all kinds of ways. But not like this. This is like assembly line murder of young black men.
But white folks get hung up on labels.
I point out that the Race for the Cure which was created to get people involved in the fight against a specific type of cancer (breast). Does it mean that other cancers don’t deserve attention and fundraising? Does it mean that other cancers don’t matter? Of course not! What it does mean is that, much like the Race for the Cure, BLM is about bringing focus to a specific issue that needs attention. My example is overly-simplistic, I suppose, but it does seem to make them STFU and think about it some.
And with regards to Giuliani and his saying that BLM is a “racist” organization, does he apply his sort of mindset to other groups that represent a specific segment of the population? Does he think that NOW is a bigoted organization because they fight specifically for women against discrimination and unequal treatment? What about the Jewish Anti-Defamation League? Or groups that are vocal about the rights of the LGBT folks?
Yeah, Rudy — they’ll get right on that, just ’cause you said so.
BTW, Rudy — didja hear, Mike Huckabee stated that the “real movement in America should be ‘Male Lives Matter’” . . .
http://www.salon.com/2016/07/11/mike_huckabee_the_real_movement_in_america_should_be_male_lives_matter/
If he were to start an organization with that name, would you demand he get rid of that slogan, too?
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I’ve mentioned it before but I had that very same experience when I told a right-winger Dubya invading Iraq was colossally a bad ideal. Literally red-faced with rage (no way I can exaggerate his out-of-control anger) he accused me of being in league with terrorists.
Post-invasion when Iraq disintegrated into the sectarian violence plaguing it to this day he conveniently forgot the conversation ever occurred.
I’m frankly shocked at the consistency of the massive double standard that has been applied, going back through most of my lifetime. The same right wingers who angrily supported Ronald Reagan during his frequently challenged presidency (a record number of his people were indicted and convicted during his administration) were the ones who most regularly attacked Bill Clinton. Suddenly in the 90s, they woke up to the notion of corruption in government. But when George W. Bush got into office, they switched sides again, first to angrily declare his victory during the brief moment where the country considered having a recount and then to angrily demand everyone support him because of 9/11. I remember being told that I better support Bush’s 2003 invasion of Iraq because if I didn’t, I was supposedly “supporting the terrorists”. I remember being told that the very real ethical problems that plagued the Bush presidency were just “liberal bull@$@!”. And when Barack Obama became President, suddenly the pendulum swung back the other way again. In addition to constant attempts to smear his administration with allegations of criminality and corruption, there is a sadly regular streak of racism in play. And we’ve sadly become used to racist aspersions being thrown at this President, as well as to anyone the right wing wishes to attack.
I caught Giuliani’s “Face the Nation” performance. My thought at the time was Rudy’s mainstream Republican vomit which is so popular on shows like “Fox & Friends” and which is parroted by many analysts on GOP TV isn’t traveling so well outside the bubble.
I was debating a right-winger just as resentful as Fox News is of blacks. He screamed the same line if bull. I referred him to #BlackLivesMatter’s web site where their stated mission debunked everything he said. Of course, he rejected that as a bunch of lies and went back to spewing bigoted hate.
The sad truth is the popularity of Donald Trump proves this sort of bigotry is widespread.
Or that Rudy does fully comprehend this and is only playing to the rubes in the audience. Which is kind of insidious.
