Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Princeton University professor and MSNBC contributor Eddie Glaude, Jr. argued that black people did not “fall within the sphere of” President Donald Trump’s moral concern.
Host Mika Brzezinski said, “I want to ask you about the violence but also when you think of the words of Jacob Blake’s mother, you — I feel like this is what we’re lacking in the leader of the free world because somebody has to restore calm and there has to be a sense of hierarchy and leadership that we can trust, and we’re not getting it. Might it even be being stirred up?”
Glaude said, “Well, definitely. When we hear calls for law and order in the way we heard last night, without mentioning Jacob Blake, didn’t even cross Vice President Pence’s lips. We know what he’s doing, he’s appealing to white fear, white resentment, white grievance and the like, trying to mobilize those fears for his own political gain, for Trump’s political gain.”
He continued, “Let’s step back. Of course, it’s the case that we don’t want people looting, and we don’t want people burning down businesses. We understand that. But what does it mean we turn there first? Let’s turn to what is precipitating this, Mika. Why do we have to continue to ask the question about violence when we’re not asking the question about what precipitates it. Why are we concerned that we’re playing into the hands of Donald Trump in this instance when we should be asking the more fundamental question, why are police doing this? And why are we in an environment where even the hint, the misinformation around police action, can lead to the spark of protest in this instance? In other words, we need to get to the heart of the matter. It’s clear for Mike Pence and Donald Trump black people don’t fall within the sphere of their moral concern. But we have to shift the gravity of our concern as we grapple with the issue in this particular moment.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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