ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith blasted the kind of race activists who booed Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley for saying “All lives matter” at Netroots Nation last weekend.
Mr. Smith used his radio show on Tuesday to highlight the philosophical message it sends when a candidate who says “All lives matter” is forced to apologize.
“Where’s the noise about all black lives matter when black folks are killing black folks? You see, that’s where you lose me. So a presidential candidate who isn’t black happens to stand up and say, ’All lives matter.’ Hillary Clinton, a presidential candidate who may probably get the Democratic nomination for the presidency — she says, ’All lives matter,’ and then she has to couch it and retract all of this other stuff,” said Mr. Smith, The Raw Story reported.
Mr. O’Malley said on Sunday that he meant “no disrespect” to the liberal Netroots audience in Phoenix, Arizona, while discussing race relations in America.
“I did not mean to be insensitive in any way or communicate that I did not understand the tremendous passion, commitment and feeling and depth of feeling that all of us should be attaching to this issue,” Mr. O’Malley said, CNN reported.
Mr. Smith said he wanted to concentrate on sports, but the story was too important to pass up.
“So we mandate that folks say black lives matter, but we got black folks dying at the hands of black folks. Don’t get me started on the murders in Chicago. … There’s nothing wrong with somebody highlighting “All lives matter.’ … Does anybody take a moment to realize how we look when we force someone to apologize for saying, ’All lives matter’? Do you have any idea how that makes us look, especially when black folks are getting killed by black folks every day?” Mr. Smith said.
The ESPN host then took his message to Twitter and his 2.4 million followers.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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