Former New York City Mayor Rudolph on Sunday said African-Americans should respect police, adding that the Black Lives Matter movement is "inherently racist." Black Lives Matters defines itself as an "ideological and political intervention in a world where black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise." File photo by Richard Drew/UPI |
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NEW YORK, July 11 (UPI) -- Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Black Lives Matter is "inherently racist" and suggested the movement should focus on black people killing other black people.
During an interview with CBS News' Face the Nation on Sunday, Giuliani said the Black Lives Matters movement focuses too much on police killing black people, which "happens rarely although with tremendous attention," and not enough effort focusing on black-on-black violence, "which happens every 14 hours in Chicago."
Giuliani, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, said African-American parents should teach their children to respect police and to avoid violence in their own communities.
"If I were a black father and I was concerned about the safety of my child, really concerned about it and not in a politically activist sense, I would say be very respectful to the police, most of them are good, some can be very bad and just be very careful," he said. "I'd also say be very careful of those kids in the neighborhood, don't get involved with them because, son, there's a 99 percent chance they're going to kill you -- not the police."
Giuliani, who has often said the Black Lives Matter movement threatens police officers, said African Americans increase tension in music and pop culture through "rap songs about killing police officers and they talk about killing police officers and they yell it out at their rallies."
"When you say Black Lives Matter, that's inherently racist. Black lives matter. White lives matter. Asian lives matter. Hispanic lives mater. That's anti-American and it's racist," Giuliani said.
Giuliani said white people should understand that "African-American men have a fear -- and boys have a fear -- of being confronted by the police ... some people may consider it rational, some people may consider it irrational ... but it's a reality, it exists."
Black Lives Matters defines itself as an "ideological and political intervention in a world where black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise."
Giuliani's comments came days after five police officers in Dallas were killed during a protest over recent police-related killings of black men. The shooter, later killed by a police-controlled robot, allegedly told police he was targeting them to make them pay for the police-related killings.
