Al Sharpton: ‘Look the other way’ activists focus on cops, ignore ‘100 people shot’ in Chicago

MSNBC’s Al Sharpton says activists must focus on inner-city killings as well as law enforcement reform if they plan on saying they “love” the Black community.

The “Politics Nation” host made the comments Wednesday morning while talking to the “Morning Joe” crew about crime waves in cities like Chicago and New York.

“New York state will now require large police departments to submit data on shootings in hot spots,” contributor Gabe Gutierrez said to prime the segment. “In many major cities nationwide, homicides are surging, up 33% in Los Angeles compared to 2019, and 40% in Chicago, where it was an especially brutal holiday weekend. 100 people shot. 18 dead.”

Mr. Sharpton then recounted a conversation he had with a Black citizen in Little Rock, Arkansas, prior to a eulogy for a White person killed by police.

“The irony is when I got to Little Rock, Joe, to prepare for the sermon yesterday, a Black that was working in the restaurant said, ’I hope you go over to what was the Black community and talk about these kids shooting each other,’” Mr. Sharpton told co-host Joe Scarborough. “Four kids killed each other over the weekend. … In Chicago, 100 people shot over the weekend.”

The long-time civil rights activist then called for a “balance of outrage” that treats bad cops “in blue uniforms” with as much scrutiny as “people in blue jeans who are openly being criminal, acting like it’s normal in our community.”

“Civil rights leaders, some of us are meeting with President Biden this week,” Mr. Sharpton said, media watchdog NewsBusters reported. “We not only want to talk about voting rights, and we do, and police reform But how we have to factor in, in dealing with gun violence in this country. You can’t love our people when they’re shot by police, and then look the other way when we’re shooting each other. We have to deal with both.”