There was a chill in the air Friday in the wake of the heinous shooting in Dallas, where five innocent police officers were killed and seven wounded, while protecting a Black Lives Matter protest. In the days leading up to the ambush in Dallas, two separate videos went viral of black men being shot and killed by police officers in Baton Rouge, LA and in Minneapolis, MN. On Morning Joe, viewers were led to believe that the “at the heart of this problem is something called the value gap.”
According to Princeton University Professor Eddie Glaude Jr., the “value gap” is defined as white people being more valued in our country than other people:
GLAUDE JR.: …We talk about the wealth gap. We talk about the achievement gap. But at the heart of this is something called the value gap. That there is a belief. It's not a feeling. It's actually, it's actually known that white people are valued more in this country than others. That when the Governor of Minnesota said if that was a white couple—
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Right.
GLAUDE JR.: —in St. Paul, that that driver, that Philando probably would be alive, that’s the value gap. And, and part of what happens with the value gap, Mika, is that it lends a kind of precariousness to black life.
While Gaude Jr. proclaimed it is “actually known that white people are valued more in this country than others” it is unclear who holds the power to devalue one life over another, and how he made these grand conclusions. The deranged man who killed five Dallas police officers Thursday night expressed intent to kill white people. What does the “value gap” have to say about a black man who took the lives of police officers while they were protecting a Black Lives Matter-led protest?
In times of racially charged tragedies, MSNBC’s Reverend Al Sharpton is always on the forefront, and this week was no exception:
AL SHARPTON: …And I think that that's the point. When the governor said yesterday if that person had been white, it wouldn't have happened. It carried weight but he's making an observation. We wake up in that reality every day—
BRZEZINSKI: She brought us there and told us the story.
SHARPTON: —and to carry that burden on your shoulder every day from work to play to school, whatever. Is something that I don't think people understand.
What then is the “reality” that police officers wake up to every day? Where does the “value gap” factor them in? If only the media used this as a teaching moment and not an opportunity to perpetuate the vitriol. This country is desperate for leadership and unity, and what we have instead is a MSNBC hosted lecture on the “value gap.”
View Full Transcript Here:
07-08-16 MSNBC Morning Joe
07:12:48 AM – 07:14:08 AMEDDIE GLAUDE JR. [African American Studies Chair at Princeton Univ.] You know, I keep going back to something you said. We're a nation on edge.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Yeah.
GLAUDE JR.: And, you know, at the heart of this, Joe, we talk about, and I've said this on the show before. We talk about the wealth gap. We talk about the achievement gap. But at the heart of this is something called the value gap. That there is a belief. It's not a feeling. It's actually, it's actually known that white people are valued more in this country than others. That when the Governor of Minnesota said if that was a white couple—
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Right.
GLAUDE JR.: —in St. Paul, that that driver, that Philando probably would be alive, that’s the value gap. And, and part of what happens with the value gap, Mika, is that it lends a kind of precariousness to black life.
REV. AL SHARPTON: Yeah.
BRZEZINSKI: Well I’m going to go live to Dallas in just a second. But to add to that I just, I'll throw this question out there. What would have happened if Diamond Reynolds hadn't broadcast live on Facebook? What if she would have had no phone?
SHARPTON: And if we had told her story if she had not done that, no one would have believed her.
BRZEZINSKI: What if she had no phone?
SHARPTON: And I think that that's the point. When the governor said yesterday if that person had been white, it wouldn't have happened. It carried weight but he's making an observation. We wake up in that reality every day—
BRZEZINSKI: She brought us there and told us the story.
SHARPTON: —and to carry that burden on your shoulder every day from work to play to school, whatever. Is something that I don't think people understand.
