Joining fill-in host Shannon Bream on Thursday’s Kelly File to comment on the latest shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke demanded that “the liberal mainstream media” stop their charade as “the propaganda wing” of the Black Lives Matter movement that Clarke has dubbed the “Black Lies Matter” movement.
Clarke first commented on the “very unfortunate” shooting of a nine-year-old girl in Ferguson and how little outrage has seemed to have surfaced regarding this event before arguing that “this is exhibit A” of why he has “renamed this movement from Black Lives Matter to Black Lies Matter because this movement tries to make it seem like the police are the problem.”
As one witnesses “black-on-black crime going just continually,” Clarke observed that, to him, there’s a lack of desire from “within the black community” for something to “be done to change this” and instead an attitude that such crimes are “just an inconvenience with the group to keep the focus on the anti-police movement going on across America and to is having devastating consequences for good, law-abiding black people.”
Bream then asked if there’s still a pathway in which there can be “a conversation within the black community because people out are going to say we’re not the ones that can go in there and talk about black on black violence, effectively.”
Clearly skeptical, Clarke didn’t think so “because this whole black lies matter movement is dominating the conversation, they're dominating the stage right now” by “trying to make this about the police.” It was then he lashed out at the liberal media:
The police are one of the few thing that's right in St. Louis, Missouri, one of the things that's right in Ferguson, Missouri and until the mainstream media – because they've been the propaganda wing for the movement. Until the liberal mainstream media stops fanning the flames of racial divisions and stops giving the microphone – the stage, if you will, to this mob, they're going to continue to drown out the people who really need to step up and who really can make a difference in the American ghetto.
After going after the media, Clarke urged inner city Americans to treat law enforcement and people of official authority with better respect [emphasis mine]:
Whether people like it or not, they're authority figures and you have to treat them with respect. Young black men are going to have to realize that authority figures have to be respected. You cannot point a gun at a police officer and expect nothing to happen. You cannot, you shall now, you will not point a firearm at a law enforcement officer...The use of force by police across the nation is down considerably and has been over the last ten years. The use of deadly force by police against black males is very rare. As a matter of fact, more white males are killed in confrontations with law enforcement officers than black males and it's by nearly two to one margin...This is a political movement now and this is going to go on, I think, all through the 2016 election to help mobilize the black vote, but it's coming like I said at a heavy toll to the good law abiding black people all across America.
The relevant portions of the transcript from FNC’s The Kelly File on August 20 can be found below.
FNC’s The Kelly File
August 20, 2015
9:34 p.m. Eastern
SHANNON BREAM: Here now with reaction, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark. Sheriff, good to have you with us tonight.
SHERIFF DAVID CLARKE: Thanks, it’s my pleasure.
BREAM: I come from the camp, as I think you do, that all lives matter. We hate to see any lives lost here, but we've got a little girl and there doesn't seem like there's the outrage over losing her.
CLARKE: You know, the social order has collapsed in major ghettos across the nation and I think we're seeing it again in St. Louis. It’s very unfortunate, but – and I think this is exhibit A – I've renamed this movement from Black Lives Matter to Black Lies Matter because this movement tries to make it seem like the police are the problem. Yeah, we see this black on black crime going just continually. Not too far from the scene where the nine-year-old was a Tuskugee airman was held up at gunpoint. There was a bullet riddled building nearby, another homicide and you didn't see this mob really gather out and demand that something, you know, within the black community, be done to change this, nor do they want to make it about the police. This has nothing more than what happened with this nine-year-old, just an inconvenience with the group to keep the focus on the anti-police movement going on across America and to is having devastating consequences for good, law-abiding black people.
BREAM: Do you think there's a way to have a conversation within the black community because people out are going to say we’re not the ones that can go in there and talk about black on black violence, effectively. We’re not part of that community, but do you think it's possible within that community to have a meaningful conversation on that?
CLARKE: Well, I would like to think that there is but I haven't seen any indication of it because this whole black lies matter movement is dominating the conversation, they're dominating the stage right now. They’re trying to make this about the police. The police are one of the few thing that's right in St. Louis, Missouri, one of the things that's right in Ferguson, Missouri and until the mainstream media – because they've been the propaganda wing for the movement. Until the liberal mainstream media stops fanning the flames of racial divisions and stops giving the microphone – the stage, if you will, to this mob, they're going to continue to drown out the people who really need to step up and who really can make a difference in the American ghetto.
BREAM: Do you think this group has some legitimate concerns that need to be addressed? They say that their young people in their communities grow up with a fare of law enforcement officers? They point to incarceration rates saying they're much higher than the population. Are there legit issues there we can talk about as well as within in the community.
CLARKE: There's a legitimate issue that I see. The police are authority figures in their community. Whether people like it or not, they're authority figures and you have to treat them with respect. Young black men are going to have to realize that authority figures have to be respected. You cannot point a gun at a police officer and expect nothing to happen. You cannot, you shall now, you will not point a firearm at a law enforcement officer. So the other things that are talked about, Shannon, I'm not seeing any data to suggest that any of that is true. The use of force by police across the nation is down considerably and has been over the last ten years. The use of deadly force by police against black males is very rare. As a matter of fact, more white males are killed in confrontations with law enforcement officers than black males and it's by nearly two to one margin. So, all I'm saying is that I'm not seeing anything to suggest that there's any legitimacy to these claims being made. This is a political movement now and this is going to go on, I think, all through the 2016 election to help mobilize the black vote, but it's coming like I said at a heavy toll to the good law abiding black people all across America.
