‘The Rioting Has to Stop’: Don Lemon Condemns Violence in Kenosha Following Police Shooting of Jacob Blake
CNN’s Don Lemon condemned the violence in Kenosha, Wisconsin following the police shooting of Jacob Blake during his post-convention show on Tuesday night — exclaiming that “the rioting has to stop.”
Lemon faulted Democrats for simply waiting for the violence in Kenosha to stop and for failing to address it fast enough before the November election, which is only 68 days away.
“So the problem is not going to be fixed by then, but what they can do, and I think maybe Joe Biden may be afraid to do it. I’m not sure. Maybe he won’t, maybe he is. He’s got to address it,” Lemon told Chris Cuomo. “He’s got to come out and talk about it. He’s got to do a speech lie Barack Obama did about race. He’s got to come out and tell people that he’s going to deal with the issue of police reform in this country and that’s what’s happening now is happening under Donald Trump’s watch.”
Lemon guessed that Biden and his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) are waiting to address the issue once they are elected, but noted that they might lose if they do not address it sooner.
“The rioting has to stop, Chris,” Lemon added. “It’s showing up in the polling. It’s showing up in focus groups. It is the only thing — it is the only thing right now that is sticking.”
Lemon later noted that only a select few in the Democratic Party want the police defunded, adding that most Black people actually want police officers, they just don’t want to be abused by them.
“I’m going to say this and I know people don’t like it. Most black people don’t want police defunded,” he said. “They don’t want fewer police there. What they want, they want more. And most communities of color in this country need police. They may need police more than white communities, okay?”
Lemon added that crime is more prevalent in poorer communities, regardless of race and ethnicity, so police officers are necessary. He later pointed out that Democrats need to be more strategic during this election, considering the goal is, of course, to win in November.
“Not to win an argument, to win an election, and to be strategic and know when to push a certain issue, when to pull back on a certain issue. And you can’t always have an activist mind and an activist leaning when you’re trying to win an election,” he said. “It’s great to be out there, this is what we want, this is what we want, but you have to realize the ultimate goal is to what? To win a center of power so you can take care of the issue that is important to you. I’m done.”
Julia Jackson, Jacob Blake’s mother, also condemned the violence following the police shooting of her son during an interview with Lemon– calling it disgusting and unhelpful.
“And as his mother, please don’t burn up property and cause havoc and tear your own homes down in my son’s name. You shouldn’t do it,” she said. “People shouldn’t do it anyway. But to use my child or any other mother or father’s child, our tragedy to react in that manner is just not acceptable. And it’s not helping Jacob. It’s not helping Jacob or any other of the men or women who has suffered in these areas.”
Watch above, via CNN.
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