Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke lost his patience with CNN’s Don Lemon Sunday night in a heated exchange over the Black Lives Matter movement, black-on-black violence and anti-police rhetoric.
The interview had a rough start, when Lemon indicated that protesters are bringing a “message of peace,” and Clarke wasn’t buying it.
“This anti-cop sentiment from this hateful ideology called Black Lives Matter has fueled this rage against the American police officer,” Clarke said.
Lemon asked if Clarke knows for sure that Black Lives Matter fueled the death of three Louisiana cops in Sunday. “Yes I do,” Clarke said.
Clarke also charged Obama with ignoring other black-on-black violence, and blamed the press for ignoring those stories as well.
Lemon tried to re-ask his question, and asked Clarke to “keep the volume down here,” but that only made Clarke angrier.
“I’m looking at three dead cops this week, and I’m looking at five last week, you’re trying to tell me to keep it down?” Clarke asked.
When Clarke continued to interrupt, Lemon cut him off and took a break after asking, “Are you going to let me get a word in?”
When they returned, Clarke pressed his point that the movement is claiming racial bias when there is none.
“Let me ask you this: Do we know that generally the American law enforcement officers are racist?” Clarke, who is black, asked Lemon, who is also black.
“This whole anti-police rhetoric is based on a lie. There is no data, and you know this, there is no data, there is no research that proves any of that nonsense,” Clarke added. “None.”
When Lemon said there is data showing racial bias, Clarke said, “The president has been lying about it.”
“That is not a lie,” Lemon said.
“It is a lie,” he said.
