Jesse Jackson: 'Unfair' to Blame Cop Slayings on Protesters
Monday, 22 Dec 2014 02:16 PM
Blaming political figures, protesters or civil rights leaders for Saturday's execution-style killing of two New York City police officers is an "unfair" and "extreme" response to a horrific but isolated event, the Rev. Jesse Jackson told Newsmax TV on Monday.
The civil rights leader told "MidPoint" host Ed Berliner that the families of the slain NYPD officers "need all the condolences and mercy we can afford," and said their murders on Saturday in Brooklyn were "not a political assassination" but the act of a "cold-blooded" and "deranged" individual.
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"We should not equate the actions of a sick man who did a sick thing with mass demonstrations for justice and for healing," said Jackson. "Don't make that equation."
On-duty officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were gunned down in broad daylight as they sat inside a patrol car. Their killer, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, had already shot and wounded his ex-girlfriend earlier that day in Baltimore, police said.
Brinsley traveled from Baltimore to New York, vowing on social media to target police for the death of police chokehold victim Eric Garner. After shooting Ramos and Liu, Brinsley turned his gun on himself as other officers closed in on him inside a subway station, police said.
Jackson, founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, condemned violence of any kind in connection with protests for equal treatment under the law.
"Those who are saying they want 'dead cops,' they don't represent the heart of our civil rights struggle," said Jackson. "Those who call for violence, they don't represent the heart of our civil rights struggle.
"We believe we can have nonviolent conflict resolution," he said, adding that with violence, "No. 1, you cannot win the fight; No. 2, it distracts from the message of healing; and No. 3, there is no redemption in violence.
"So, we believe in nonviolent action, and most people in those marches represent just that," he said.
Jackson said that the issues raised by protesters in recent weeks — since grand juries cleared white police officers in the deaths of Garner and Michael Brown — still need to be addressed, and that protest is a legitimate outlet for concerns about policing.
He said there remains a "a pattern of blacks being killed" by police and that "at some point we must decide that an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, will leave all of us blind and disfigured and dead. We must stop being so quick on the trigger finger."
Jackson also defended his civil-rights contemporary, the New York-based the Rev. Al Sharpton, against charges of inflaming tensions, and he criticized the NYPD cops whoturned their backs on New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio inside the hospital where the two fatally wounded officers were brought.
"To turn your back on the chief executive officer of the city is unprofessional and it cannot be justified," said Jackson.
He also defended President Barack Obama against accusations that, in trying to assuage African-Americans' worries about law enforcement, he has contributed to a climate in which cops feel besieged, and that he failed to speak for all Americans by not voicing enough support for law enforcement and public safety.
He said that Obama, Sharpton, and Attorney General Eric Holder have all "sought justice" and worked "to get the glass out of the wound," and are not culpable for the officers' deaths.
"So, to throw their names around that way is irresponsible and not fair," said Jackson.
"I do not communicate with him that much, but I understand what he is trying to do," Jackson said of the president. "He is a fair man and he is a just man, and it's unfair to [describe] his appeal for reconciliation, which he has campaigned on … as being the cause of the killing of these two policemen. That's really extreme rhetoric."
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© 2014 Newsmax. All rights reserveThe civil rights leader told "MidPoint" host Ed Berliner that the families of the slain NYPD officers "need all the condolences and mercy we can afford," and said their murders on Saturday in Brooklyn were "not a political assassination" but the act of a "cold-blooded" and "deranged" individual.
Story continues below video.
On-duty officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were gunned down in broad daylight as they sat inside a patrol car. Their killer, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, had already shot and wounded his ex-girlfriend earlier that day in Baltimore, police said.
Brinsley traveled from Baltimore to New York, vowing on social media to target police for the death of police chokehold victim Eric Garner. After shooting Ramos and Liu, Brinsley turned his gun on himself as other officers closed in on him inside a subway station, police said.
Jackson, founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, condemned violence of any kind in connection with protests for equal treatment under the law.
"Those who are saying they want 'dead cops,' they don't represent the heart of our civil rights struggle," said Jackson. "Those who call for violence, they don't represent the heart of our civil rights struggle.
"So, we believe in nonviolent action, and most people in those marches represent just that," he said.
Jackson said that the issues raised by protesters in recent weeks — since grand juries cleared white police officers in the deaths of Garner and Michael Brown — still need to be addressed, and that protest is a legitimate outlet for concerns about policing.
He said there remains a "a pattern of blacks being killed" by police and that "at some point we must decide that an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, will leave all of us blind and disfigured and dead. We must stop being so quick on the trigger finger."
Jackson also defended his civil-rights contemporary, the New York-based the Rev. Al Sharpton, against charges of inflaming tensions, and he criticized the NYPD cops whoturned their backs on New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio inside the hospital where the two fatally wounded officers were brought.
"To turn your back on the chief executive officer of the city is unprofessional and it cannot be justified," said Jackson.
He also defended President Barack Obama against accusations that, in trying to assuage African-Americans' worries about law enforcement, he has contributed to a climate in which cops feel besieged, and that he failed to speak for all Americans by not voicing enough support for law enforcement and public safety.
He said that Obama, Sharpton, and Attorney General Eric Holder have all "sought justice" and worked "to get the glass out of the wound," and are not culpable for the officers' deaths.
"So, to throw their names around that way is irresponsible and not fair," said Jackson.
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