CNN anchor Don Lemon on Wednesday accused President Trump of “trafficking” in racial hatred that results in tragic incidents like the police-involved death of George Floyd.
During his nightly handoff with fellow anchor Chris Cuomo, Mr. Lemon mentioned several recent news stories that have reignited racial tensions in the country, including the death of Floyd, an unarmed black man who died on Memorial Day after a Minneapolis police officer pinned him to the ground by the neck.
Mr. Lemon suggested Mr. Trump’s presidency played a role in people feeling more emboldened to carry out their racist impulses.
“Imagine if that was me on the ground how you would feel as a friend, as someone I spend a lot of time with,” Mr. Lemon asked his colleague. “Imagine how people around this country feel when their friends like you, both of us are a different background. When their friends say nothing. When they do nothing.”
“How many more excuses do you need to make before you examine yourself and say, ‘OK, maybe I need to wake up a little bit and take a good, long look at what I’ve been doing,” he continued, no longer addressing Mr. Cuomo. “Maybe I need to understand or realize that the environment that this president has trafficked in can help to lead to these sorts of situations, where people think that that sort of behavior, meaning the people who are doing these things — the people who are calling the cops on people falsely in Central Park, the people who are chasing people down the street in Georgia and killing them — that you may begin to think that your actions are normal. That you may begin to think that you as the preeminent voice can do things that are inhumane to other people and it will be accepted.”
Mr. Lemon was referring to the Feb. 23 death of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black man who was pursued by two white men in a pickup truck and fatally shot in Glynn County, Georgia, as well as a now-viral incident last weekend in New York City’s Central Park in which a white woman called police on a black man.
Racial outrage reached a boiling point after Floyd’s death on Monday, compounded by months of lockdown restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic. Riots and looting swept Minneapolis for the second night in a row Wednesday.
Mr. Lemon said black people are fed up with feeling like they’re living in an “occupied” country.
“That is what has been happening in this country for years, and that’s why the Black Lives Matter folks are out there and that’s why people are protesting,” he said. “I’m not condoning people protesting, but let me tell you, people are tired of living in an occupied country — a country that’s supposed to be free, yet they are occupied.
“So, they are frustrated and they are angry and they are out there and they’re upset,” he continued. “You shouldn’t be taking televisions, but I can’t tell people how to react to this. I don’t know how it is to live under those circumstances in those neighborhoods. I do live in Harlem, but I am lucky enough that I have this job that keeps me protected from many of those things. Other people don’t have that.”
Mr. Lemon said the only way to solve the racial divide is if white people start listening to black people.
“It is not incumbent upon black people to stop racism,” he said. “It is incumbent upon people who hold the power in this society to help to do that, to do the heavy lifting.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump said Wednesday that Floyd’s death was “very sad and tragic” and that “justice will be served.”
“At my request, the FBI and the Department of Justice are already well into an investigation as to the very sad and tragic death in Minnesota of George Floyd,” the president tweeted. “I have asked for this investigation to be expedited and greatly appreciate all of the work done by local law enforcement. My heart goes out to George’s family and friends. Justice will be served!”
