As News One Now managing editor and former CNN contributor Roland Martin appeared as a guest on Sunday's The Point with Ari Melber on MSNBC, during a discussion of black suspects being shot and killed by police officers, the liberal commentator seemed unaware that more whites than blacks are killed by police as he declared that "it's going to have to take a series of white Americans shot and killed in a similar fashion for America to deal with this issue."
When fellow guest Professor Joe Giacalone of John Jay College informed him that, "if you look at the statistics, more people are shot by the police every year," it still didn't sink in as Martin retorted, "I said, 'Killed.'"
Giacalone then informed viewers: "And killed, yes. More white people are killed by the police in this country than black people are."
In fact, according to statistics compiled by the Washington Post, only about one in four criminal suspects killed by police are black.
The dominant news media just seldomly take the time to highlight the cases of whites or Hispanics being killed. Black Lives Matter more.....when covering police shootings.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Sunday, June 25, The Point with Ari Melber on MSNBC:
6:50 p.m. ET
ARI MELBER: Roland, you have covered these stories for a long time. What do you think of these reports this week?ROLAND MARTIN, NEWS ONE NOW: Well, it's sad, and it's sickening, but the bottom line is the laws in this country allow police officers wide latitude when it comes to the use of force -- and that is what is deadly. That is what is shameful.
When you see these videos -- when you see Officer Yanez acting completely emotional, totally off kilter, and then examine his partner who's sort of oblivious to what is going on, I mean, and you hear Castile saying, "I'm not reaching, I'm not reaching," the officer raises, you know, the emotions of the whole issue.
The problem is, all an officer has to do today is to simply go to court and say, "I feared for my life," and juries will believe them over and over and over. And I know this sounds really, really bad for some folks, but, frankly, Ari, it's going to have to take a series of white Americans shot and killed in a similar fashion for America to deal with this issue.
MELBER: Joe Giacalone, is that fair or is that overstated?
PROFESSOR JOE GIACALONE, JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE: Well, if you look at the statistics, more people are shot by the police every year. I mean, it's just --
MARTIN: I said, "killed."
GIACALONE: And killed, yes. More white people are killed by the police in this country than black people are.
MARTIN: And what we never see is high-profile cases where you have the video there -- I'm telling you, that's what it's going to have to take because, unfortunately, you don't have the same view about black lives when they are being lost, unfortunately, in this country in 2017.
GIACALONE: Well, the last two shootings happened to deal with -- one was a Hispanic cop and the other was a black cop. But put all that aside. I mean, what we're really dealing with is Graham vs Connor here and the "Reasonableness Standard." And, you know what, these videos are actually backfiring on the ACLU because they're up to interpretation.
