CNN’s coverage of the Baltimore protests and riots has already been widely criticized for its narrow focus on violence, largely ignoring peaceful protests and positive events that occurred in the community.
In an interview with Community Activist Deray McKesson, Wolf Blitzer was stopped dead in his tracks for trying to continue to skew the narrative.
His exchange with McKesson began simply:
“You want peaceful protests, right?”
McKesson answered:
“Yes, for sure. Remember the people that have been violent since August have been the police. When you think about the 300 people that have been killed this year alone. Like that is violence. There’s some property damage here that’s been really unfortunate over the last couple, for a day or so here. But remember, there have been many days of peaceful protests here in Baltimore city. And it takes place all around the country.”
But Blitzer wasn’t satisfied with that.
“But at least 15 police officers have been hurt, 200 arrests, 144 vehicle fires – these are statistics… Local police have put out 15 structure fires. There’s no excuse for that kind of violence, right?”
Responding to the absurdity of Blitzer’s response, McKesson:
“Yeah, and there’s no excuse for the seven people that the Baltimore City Police Department has killed in the last year either, right?”
Blitzer tries to run from McKesson’s reminder of who started the violence:
“We’re not making comparisons. Obviously, we don’t want anybody hurt. But I just want to hear you say that there should be peaceful protests, not violent protests, in the tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King.”
Enough. McKesson calls Blitzer on his false equivocations:
“Yeah, there should be peaceful protests. And I don’t have to condone it to understand it, right? The pain that people feel is real… And you are making a comparison … You are suggesting this idea that broken windows are worse than broken spines, right?”
“…broken windows are worse than broken spines…”
Watch the full interview below.
