If you had to take someone’s word, you would always go with a police officer over the word of some random citizen (and, let’s be honest, for many Americans, this was especially true if that citizen was a minority). “It’s more risky in that they are substantially more likely to end up in a situation where the police don’t respect you and you could easily get killed”.
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During a conversation with his progressive former Crossfire cast-mate Van Jones broadcast on Facebook Live on Friday, Gingrich delivered an opinion that may strike many as surprising as coming from the architect of the conservative takeover of Congress in the mid-1990s: “It’s more unsafe to be black in America”. “Sometimes it’s hard for whites to appreciate how real that is, it’s an everyday danger”.
If Donald Trump picks Newt Gingrich as his running mate, the former House speaker would serve in an unusual function ” that of an understudy.
The former secretary of state says she has now seen the musical three times and “I cry every time”.
Yet, with Gingrich’s past comments, many of which are seen as blunt and callous, a number of people are finding it hard to take him seriously.
Gingrich, who is considered to be a potential running mate for presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, later admitted the he believes white Americans are unable to really understand how much discrimination and risk black Americans are faced with daily.
“It raises a level of skepticism that the American people have from time to time about just how objective the Supreme Court is, whether they’re over there to call the balls and strikes, or weigh in on one side or another”, he said. He spoke about how Jones has to speak to his children about dealing with police officers but for white parents it isn’t necessary as, “it’s not part of your normal experience”.
Black and white Americans “should start talking to each other instead of getting in their respective corners and throwing hand grenades at each other”, he continued.
Sen. Tim Scott – the only black Republican in the Senate – said he, too, has had unpleasant run-ins with police that many people who are not black would not understand. And we ought to challenge the Hillary Clintons and the Bernie Sanderses to say that American lives matter – all American lives.
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Pointing to “stalled” progress for African-Americans, Gingrich said this “creates the kind of alienation where it begins to become legitimate to think about, whether it’s in songs or slogans or whatever, the shooting of policemen”.
