The rallies came after 37-year-old Alton Sterling was fatally shot by police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on July 5 and 32-year-old Philando Castile was shot dead on July 6 by a police officer near St. Paul, Minnesota. While Black Lives Matter, as well as Black organizations Johnson had supposedly been attempting to join, condemned the killings of the Dallas officers by the lone gunman, various conservative pundits and organizations are maintaining a dangerously misleading canard: that there is a war on police and that Black Lives Matter is responsible.
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Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani stepped up his sharp criticism of Black Lives Matter on Monday, saying he saved “a lot more black lives” during his time in office than the movement.
“It’s inherently racist because, number one, it divides us. We therefore stand in solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement in the USA and their struggle against deeply ingrained institutional racial prejudice, but also against the worldwide system of white supremacy”. “They need to take care of our country”, says Ashley Sharpton, a Black Lives Matter participant. There’s nothing anti-American about self-expression on matters of public policy, nor racist about speaking up for a victimized minority.
I have never been entirely comfortable with the name the Black Lives Matter movement chose for itself.
But the Fort Worth Police Officers Association appears to be the first major police organization to straight up accuse Black Lives Matter of killing cops – crimes that the movement’s founders have publicly condemned.
A counter petition on the White House website sprung up on Sunday urging the Obama administration to not recognize Black Lives Matter as a terrorist group. Only the lives that make the national news matter to them.
Trump added that has heard some Black Lives Matter activists say “horrible, disgusting things about police and about others”.
During an interview with Fox News, Giuliani said Black Lives Matter was “racist”, and noted that he would be criticized if he started a “White Lives Matter” group.
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“It tries to marginalize Black Lives Matter”, Washington said.
