Hawk Newsome, president of Greater New York Black Lives Matter said Wednesday that if America fails to implement meaningful reform in response to nationwide protests over George Floyd’s death by Minneapolis police officers, BLM will “burn down this system.”
“If this country doesn’t give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it. All right? And I could be speaking figuratively. I could be speaking literally. It’s a matter of interpretation,” Hawk Newsome told Martha MacCallum on Fox News.
“Let’s be very real,” he told the Fox News host. “Let’s observe the history of the 1960s, when black people were rioting. We had the highest growth in wealth, in property ownership. Think about the last few weeks since we started protesting. There have been eight cops fired across the country.”
Newsome appeared to suggest that violence was the only way to push through reform, stating that “when people get aggressive and they escalate their protests, cops get fired, Republican politicians talking about police reform.”
“I don’t condone nor do I condemn rioting,” Newsome continued. “But I’m just telling you what I observed.”
MacCallum asked Newsome what Black Lives Matter hoped to achieve through violence.
“Wow, it’s interesting that you would pose that question like that,” Newsome responded, “because this country is built upon violence. What was the American Revolution? What’s our diplomacy across the globe?”
WIBC host Tony Katz offered a thoughtful reply to Mr. Newsome’s comments in today’s popcorn moment. Click below to listen.
