On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” CNN Senior Political Commentator and former Obama Adviser Van Jones stated that while it’s untrue that “the black community only cares about a black kid getting killed if a white cop does it or a white supremacist does it,” it is true that “The media only cares” about black children being killed if a white police officer or a racist white person is the killer.
Host Bill Maher began the discussion by stating, “We do know that, for young black men, gun homicides are the leading cause of death. And…that leading cause outstrips the next 15 causes combined. That’s how bad it is. Also, black men ages 18 to 25 die from gun homicides at a rate nearly 19 times that of white young men the same age. And they’re not being killed by white supremacists, they’re being killed by each other, that is the truth.”
Jones responded, “Absolutely.”
He added, “I’m really glad that you raised it, because I think there is this myth that the black community only cares about a black kid getting killed if a white cop does it or a white supremacist does it, and it’s just not true. The media only cares. But there are candlelight vigils every weekend, there are teddy bears, there are balloons, there are crying mothers, there are marches.”
Maher then cut in to say, “But where are the leaders saying, just hey, it’s coming from inside the house, cut it out, guys.”
Jones responded, “It happens every Sunday in every black church. It happens every Saturday in every basketball program. … [W]hen you have people like pastor Carl Day…and others, they leave the church and they go out there and they get no credit, they get no support. I agree with you, the amount of self-inflicted harm, there’s a suicide crisis among young white kids and a homicide crisis among young black kids, and we’re not doing enough about either one and we should be doing a lot more.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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