Fox's Judge Jeanine Pirro Says Black Lives Matter Is "Based on Something That Is Not True"
During her appearance on The O'Reilly Factor Friday, Fox News contributor Jeanine Pirro argued that the entire Black Lives Matter movement is "based on something that is not true."
Fox News host Eric Bolling raised the issue of people chanting "Black Lives Matter" as the families of slain police officers spoke to people attending the Democratic National Convention.
Pirro grew angry. Here are her remarks, transcribed in full:
"And I have to tell you, Eric, I have a real problem with that. The whole concept of Black Lives Matter, the genesis, it began in Ferguson with Michael Brown and with Trayvon Martin. Trayvon Martin, the defendant was acquitted. In Ferguson, with Michael Brown, they didn't even bring charges up against him. The Justice Department couldn't bring anything against him. So, it was based on a lie, 'Hands up, don't shoot.' Now, this whole Black Lives Matter movement is based on something that is not true."
Pirro later argued that Brown was a "thug" who "reached for a cop's gun."
Her remarks were part of a larger conversation spurred by Bolling, in which he asked why the families of the victims of violence against police were not invited on stage with the Mothers of the Movement. Pirro said there is "no moral equivalency" between the people who died because of America's police brutality epidemic and police officers who died in the line of duty.
Pirro, herself a judge, seems to believe that a person being acquitted or not having any charges brought up against them means they did nothing wrong. She says Black Lives Matter is based on a lie because George Zimmerman was acquitted and Michael Brown's killer didn't get indicted. Pirro also repeated several times that Ferguson was the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement, though it actually began earlier, following the acquittal of George Zimmerman.
Pirro also decried "vigilante justice" and people killing police officers "because they're white." However, as Mic's Jamilah King previously wrote, the shooting of Dallas police officers is exactly the kind of vigilante justice that Black Lives Matter fights against.
King wrote that Black Lives Matter is founded on the "belief that the violence aimed at black people in America is so endemic, so pervasive, that it underlays the violence that disrupts every other community in our country. If we refuse to address the disregard for black life, we make it all too easy to disregard other lives — and yes, that includes the lives of police officers."
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