MSNBC has been delivering panel after panel of guests today criticizing the police effort to restore peace in Ferguson, MO yesterday after protestors engaged in a new round of lawlessness to mark the 1 year anniversary of Michael Brown’s death. Brown was killed by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on August 9, 2014 after a string of crimes ended with him attacking the officer while he was in his patrol car.
In her show NewsNation, MSNBC host Tamron Hall continued the day’s one-sided coverage by hosting, along with others, “Black Lives Matter” activists Deray McKesson and Marissa Johnson in separate full-length segments. Both blasted America’s law enforcement officers and labeled America as a generally anti-black society.
In the first segment with McKesson, (who was arrested for participating in an illegal sit-in yesterday evening) He and Hall condemned police for cracking down on illegal activity even though the previous day’s protests ended with an extended gunfight. They complained that the double standard was evident when police did not arrest or bother a group of legally-armed white militia arrived on the scene to protect businesses and reporters they believed were at risk.
HALL: It's interesting when you talk about the treatment that you experience. We have these images of these armed militia individuals there in Ferguson. They say they're there to protect people. You have a number of as what's referred to as “black Twitter” and people who were there saying if these were black people armed with these assault rifles, as clearly we're looking at in this video of all white men doing the very same thing, what would the reaction have been from the police? What would the reaction have been from so-called mainstream media? If that man in that hat, and others we're looking at were African-American?
MCKESSON Yeah. The police have weaponized blackness. To be black is considered a threat here and in cities across the country. We saw the police mace people wantonly just simply for standing and saying they would not be silent any longer. But you see white men come outside and Police are silent and literally have no response. They say nothing. They do not intervene. Last night was a phenomenal example of the double standard, and how subtle racist policing becomes sometimes, that it becomes silence as well.
Both McKesson and Hall failed to note that the militia, known as “The Oathkeepers,” did not break any laws and kept off restricted areas, unlike the protestors who were arrested earlier in the day.
Later on in show, the liberal host brought on Marissa Johnson, a “Black Lives Matter” member who recently disrupted and ultimately ended a rally hosted by Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders. This segment followed the same rhetoric as the whole show up to this point—that police and “White America” are oppressors who are needlessly killing innocent African-Americans.
While describing why she only targets liberal candidates, Johnson explained it was because “GOP members will pretty much flatly tell you that they don't care about black lives.” The MSNBC host offered no rebuttal to this unsubstantiated claim, rather moved on to which candidates Johnson would support:
HALL: Why not meet with Bernie Sanders? Why not attempt to find a common ground with someone who seems to be more willing to support a Progressive agenda as it relates to focusing in on black lives?
JOHNSON: Absolutely. There's really no point in confronting the GOP, at least I think during the primaries. Because GOP members will pretty much flatly tell you that they don't care about black lives. So instead we really need to put pressure on people who claim that they care about black lives, and claim that they're closer…
HALL: Let me ask you, what candidate then do you support?
Throughout her entire show, Hall made it a point to avoid addressing simple facts surrounding Ferguson. Such as the many violent crimes were committed both last night and during the original protests. Or that Michael Brown was deemed to be a violent criminal by multiple state and federal agencies. Or especially that the arrests which took place last night were being applied equally to everyone who broke the law by engaging in illegal sit-ins, regardless of race or gender. Instead she painted a pretty standard liberal picture of evil white cops attacking and oppressing innocent black lives while turning a blind eye to white people doing the same thing.
The relevant transcript from both segments can be found below:
SEGMENT ONE
TAMRON HALL, host: How did authorities there explain those charges to you and what did they claim you did there?
DERAY MCKESSON, guest: They didn't really explain the charges. We were inside, there were three things I was disappointed by. One is that there were no cameras in the spaces we were searched in or transported to the holding cells. Female officers were not originally present to search any of the women who were arrested. And then officers -- U.S. Marshals refused to give their name until we protested inside the jail and then we got their names and they were really crass. They said things like “you're in my house now”. They said “my name is deputy Marshall”, in a way that was shocking and disappointing.
HALL: It's interesting when you talk about the treatment that you experience. We have these images of these armed militia individuals there in Ferguson. They say they're there to protect people. You have a number of as what's referred to as “black Twitter” and people who were there saying if these were black people armed with these assault rifles, as clearly we're looking at in this video of all white men doing the very same thing, what would the reaction have been from the police? What would the reaction have been from so-called mainstream media? If that man in that hat, and others we're looking at were African-American?
MCKESSON Yeah. The police have weaponized blackness. To be black is considered a threat here and in cities across the country. We saw the police mace people wantonly just simply for standing and saying they would not be silent any longer. But you see white men come outside and Police are silent and literally have no response. They say nothing. They do not intervene. Last night was a phenomenal example of the double standard, and how subtle racist policing becomes sometimes, that it becomes silence as well.
SEGMENT TWO
HALL: So here you have Bernie Sanders saying I was prepared to talk about the black lives matters crisis and the things that he would like to see changed, but he was not given that opportunity.
MARISSA JOHNSON Bernie Sanders had several weeks to actually address black lives matter. And I'm actually not concerned with talk as much as I am concrete platforms, concrete policies and these politicians need to show us what's up. When Bernie Sanders was first confronted at net roots, O'Malley said I'm going to put out a package and you should expect every other candidate to do the same. Bernie Sanders has an opportunity to do this and did not do that, and so he lost his platform.
HALL: After this incident he address this had with a new sweeping policy platform, he says to combat racial inequality. He points out a number of things as to how to reinvent how police in America operate and packaged his criminal justice plan with ones that preserve voting rights and protect against racial violence. He went on to list a number of other things which include the wearing of body cameras to a number of black lives matter protesters who have also pointed out were necessary especially after Mike Brown. With that said -- and a lot of people are wondering, every politician deserves to be scrutinized whether they're liberal or conservative, but there seems to be far more politicians, let's say, on the far right who are less than sympathetic to your cause than Bernie Sanders. Why attack Bernie Sanders in that way? Why not meet with Bernie Sanders? Why not attempt to find a common ground with someone who seems to be more willing to support a Progressive agenda as it relates to focusing in on black lives?
JOHNSON: Absolutely. There's really no point in con fronting the GOP, at least I think during the primaries. Because GOP members will pretty much flatly tell you that they don't care about black lives. So instead we really need to put pressure on people who claim that they care about black lives, claim that they're closer. What we saw actually with the first confrontation that Bernie Sanders had at Net Roots is that he was confronted, O'Malley was confronted, and even Hillary's camp had to respond. The thing is that, especially on the left, candidates have this liberal rhetoric and we really need them to match it with their words and with their actions. So the thing is that Bernie Sanders is really grass roots, and if he’s really there for the people, then he would make room for grass roots movements and not say to the grass-roots movements you need to settle with what I give you. If you look at Bernie Sanders platform, look at what he said on racial equality, he's basically a class reductionist. He's never had a strong analysis that there is racism and white supremacy that is separate than the economic things that everyone experiences. We want to continue to push him on that.
HALL: Let many we ask you, what candidate then do you support? What candidate speaks most at changes you and your organization feel are necessary at this point?
JOHNSON: I personally don't support any of the candidates. I think it's a false narrative to say that you just have to settle for what the system has given us. We've said -- no matter what your politics are, across the board Americans have continually said our politicians don't work for us, the congress doesn't work for us, the system that we're in doesn't work for us. I don't affirm any part of the system because I don't expect politicians to do work. Instead I'm really interested in getting more Americans to continue to question why do we settle for a system that we say doesn't work for us when our lives are literally on the line? I think every politician needs to -- needs to show up, needs to show their platform and no politician should feel safe from the criticism of black lives matter.
