On Friday’s CNN Tonight, host Don Lemon pestered Martin Luther King III, son of Martin Luther King Jr., to spout woke talking points and fearmonger about President Trump nominating a Supreme Court justice. Most outrageously, Lemon encouraged King to label the actions of the Louisville police department as “terroristic actions” and to claim that a conservative majority Supreme Court would be “abysmal” for both minorities and women.
Lemon began the Democratic hackery by asking King “why does the system keep failing so many” African Americans.
King responded with false statistics:
You know, what the real question I think, Don, is -- is how do we build a system that works, because this one clearly does not work for the black or brown communities and people of color. I -- I think that's really where we are. I don't know -- you don't want to just say the issue is racism. That is a part of it, systemic racism. But the structure was never designed to work for all people. It was designed to work selectively. That's why we have a criminal system that has 60, 70, 80 percent of the jail population being black folk, and we have 14, 13 percent of population. It has never worked for us. And therefore, I think we need a new system, and that's where the reforms need to be with some different kinds of policy.
So the system that was founded around the statement that “all men are created equal” and has inspired Americans such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Ulysses S. Grant to advocate and fight for the rights of black Americans, “was never designed to work for all people"?
Forget that many legendary American civil rights advocates, such as Frederick Douglas and Martin Luther King, King’s father, saw themselves as carrying out the vision of the Founders. Thomas Jefferson’s words held even slaveholders such as himself accountable, as he inspired slave owners such as Washington to emancipate their slaves.
Furthermore, the statement that “60,70,80 percent of the jail population being black folk” is blatantly false. While certainly America does have work to do in terms of addressing the racial disparity in the criminal justice system, African Americans account for 34% of the total prison population. Of course, Don Lemon, who believes he should only speak his truth and not the actual truth, did not question King’s false claim.
Lemon then encouraged King to label police as terrorists:
LEMON: Do you believe in -- that some are calling the police in this case terrorists?
KING: What I will say is that the actions were certainly terroristic actions
Lemon continued the race baiting by asking King “what kind of an impact do you think a 6-3 conservative majority will have for people of color in this country?”
King responded by fearmongering about minorities and women losing their rights and continued his attack on America’s founding:
An abysmal. An abysmal set of circumstances, particularly as it relates to health care, perhaps women's rights -- so -- so many areas where the court could weigh in. I mean, the President told us that he wants the court because he wants the court to decide whether or not he wins or loses the election. And this is a dangerous pathway, not the fact of -- of putting a conservative on the court, but the court being all conservative. The court should be, in my judgment, or hopefully it would be a balanced scenario.
And it's very unfortunate that when the Republicans came into power, at one point they said, well, you know, if a justice gets nominated at the end of the session at this particular time, we should not do that, it should be the next president. But yet they've all changed their minds. So it's clear that they're -- well when I think about it, Don -- I mean, you know, some might say that even the country itself was founded upon hypocrisy. People came from Europe who were oppressed and they felt bad. Some of them may have been criminals. Then they started a system to oppress others, which is really sad, as opposed to a system that empowers everyone.
It would be more suitable for CNN to label King as a left-wing activist instead of as a “global civil rights activist.”
CNN is not a news network but a forum for left-wingers to spout vitriol about America and those who disagree with them.
This nonsense was sponsored by Wendy’s and Grubhub. Let them know here what you think about them sponsoring this content.
Read the full September 25th transcript here:
CNN Newsroom
9/25/20
11:39:45 pm
DON LEMON: Joining me now, global human rights leader Martin Luther King III. Martin, thank you. It's good to see you. I appreciate you joining us. A lot of black men and women agree with those words. Why does the system keep failing so many of us?
MARTIN LUTHER KING III (MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR'S SON, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS LEADER): You know, what the real question I think, Don, is -- is how do we build a system that works, because this one clearly does not work for the black or brown communities and people of color. I -- I think that's really where we are. I don't know -- you don't want to just say the issue is racism. That is a part of it, systemic racism. But the structure was never designed to work for all people. It was designed to work selectively. That's why we have a criminal system that has 60, 70, 80 percent of the jail population being black folk, and we have 14, 13 percent of population. It has never worked for us. And therefore, I think we need a new system, and that's where the reforms need to be with some different kinds of policy.
LEMON: Do you believe in -- that some are calling the police in this case terrorists?
KING: What I will say is that the actions were certainly terroristic actions. No-knock -- no knock laws. It seems -- it seems to me need to be abolished. There are ways to apprehend suspects. I mean, there are so many issues around this tragic case, and for the family of -- of Breonna Taylor, for tragically Breonna Taylor losing her life while being in her bed. Most of us do not ever expect police to just bust down our doors. But if they wanted to apprehend a suspect, they have the guy who actually was the drug dealer already apprehended. Why did they need to go to her house at that time in the morning and just bust in her door? I -- I just -- it's perplexing to me. And I think a logical-minded person hopefully would look at it in a perplexing way and say, look, the system is not working.
LEMON: Yeah. I want to talk about the Supreme Court now. Multiple sources tell CNN that President Trump is choosing Amy Coney Barrett to replace Justice Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. What kind of an impact do you think a 6-3 conservative majority will have for people of color in this country?
KING: An abysmal. An abysmal set of circumstances, particularly as it relates to health care, perhaps women's rights -- so -- so many areas where the court could weigh in. I mean, the President told us that he wants the court because he wants the court to decide whether or not he wins or loses the election. And this is a dangerous pathway, not the fact of -- of putting a conservative on the court, but the court being all conservative. The court should be, in my judgment, or hopefully it would be a balanced scenario. And it's very unfortunate that when the Republicans came into power, at one point they said, well, you know, if a justice gets nominated at the end of the session at this particular time, we should not do that, it should be the next president. But yet they've all changed their minds. So it's clear that they're -- well when I think about it, Don -- I mean, you know, some might say that even the country itself was founded upon hypocrisy. People came from Europe who were oppressed and they felt bad. Some of them may have been criminals. Then they started a system to oppress others, which is really sad, as opposed to a system that empowers everyone. I mean, think about it, 200 years of slavery that of course our community experienced. But we've got a lot of things that we've got to reckon with and reconcile. My hope is that we always do it in a peaceful and just and humane way, no matter what is thrown at us.
LEMON: Kamala Harris spoke to black voters in Michigan about voting rights earlier this week. Take a listen to this.
(Cuts to video)
SENATOR KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA): Why are so many powerful people spending so much time to prevent us from voting? Why are they going through so much trouble to make it difficult or confusing for us to vote? And the answer is because they know when we vote, things change.
(Cuts to live)
LEMON: This was John Lewis's life mission.
KING: No -- no question. In fact, as -- as you know, the House has passed the John Lewis Voting Restoration Act, and it sits on the Senator's desk of Mitch McConnell, just like the George Floyd Policing Act with no action. That is why voting is more important than -- than ever before. And the hope is that we would have a super large number of people voting this election and every election from now on. Elections matter. If the court gets to a 6-3 where it's 6-3 super majority of conservatives, that is, again, why elections matter, because presidents have the ability to make these appointments.
