On Friday's All In show, MSNBC host Chris Hayes took exception with one of his guests, attorney Seema Iyer, who proclaimed that "there should be" riots if George Zimmerman were acquitted.
The normally far-left Hayes found himself in the position of having to pull his panel of guests back a bit from the far left:
I don't think there will be riots, and I don’t want to call to them because I don’t think there should be riots.
MSNBC contributor James Peterson then chimed in, "I'm not calling for peace either, right?"
A bit later, after Peterson asserted that Zimmerman "murdered Trayvon Martin," Hayes corrected him:
No, he killed Trayvon Martin. That is what we can agree on. Whether he murdered him is up to the jury to decide from a legal perspective.
Iyer had tripped off Hayes's first impulse of moderation when she called for riots:
I think we’re being foolish and, frankly, naive to think that there may not be riots, and if there are, if there is an acquittal, there should be. Why are you shaking your head?
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Friday, July 12, All In with Chris Hayes:
SEEMA IYER, ATTORNEY: Well, here’s the situation I think that people aren’t really talking about, and that is, this case is about race. It is about culture. It is about politics. These jurors aren’t just deciding state versus Zimmerman. These jurors are deciding what happens in our country going forward. And I think we’re being foolish and, frankly, naive to think that there may not be riots, and if there are, if there is an acquittal, there should be. Why are you shaking your head?
CHRIS HAYES: I don’t think, well, first of all, I don't think there will be riots, and I don’t want to call to them because I don’t think there should be riots. I think-
JAMES PETERSON, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: I’m also not calling for peace, either, right? Because at the end of the day, I want people to feel what they feel about this particular case, and maybe action is the way you respond. Because maybe it’s about getting out and affecting some of the policies that shape this case. But, at the end of the day, the call for peace to me, feeds into this idea of, as somehow the black community is waiting on the sidelines menacingly waiting-
IYER: Let me just tell you, there’s plenty of white people and Indian people and Asian people in that community holding hands and ready to go if this guy is acquitted. And this is also, the issue is not whether Zimmerman did this. The issue is did the people prove it? Did the state prove it?
HAYES: Right.
PETERSON: Because he did do it. He murdered Trayvon Martin.
HAYES: No, he killed Trayvon Martin.
PETERSON: Yes.
HAYES: That is what we can agree on. Whether he murdered him is up to the jury to decide from a legal perspective.
