CNN's Lemon: LA Cop Killer Story Really About 'Racism'

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: “But there are people, especially minorities, urban radio, especially African-Americans and hispanics — this story shows that now, just like the O.J. Simpson story, just like the Rodney King story, that people… There is a distinct difference in this country the way people view race, the way people view news stories, the way we filter things, because there are people who support him. There are people who say, “I had a problem with my job. I had a problem with police officers” — especially with stories that concern police officers. There are people with a general distrust of police officers, especially African-Americans and hispanics. They believe that he had a beef, a legitimate beef, but now he’s gone off the deep end and he’s doing it the wrong way now.

CNN Host: So prior to him going off the deep end, a lot of callers, and this isn’t just talking about LAPD, this is different municipalities across the country, they’re saying he’s not so crazy.

LEMON: Right. The LAPD historically has a problem with racism. [They] had a worse problem with racism years ago, especially 20 years ago when the Rodney King story happened and probably worse before that and then it was cleaned up. No police department in the country is perfect. The LAPD is not perfect now, and people are still saying the LAPD has a problem with racism now, and police departments across the country have a problem with racism now and the way they treat people of color.