Princeton professor Eddie Glaude Jr. joined MSNBC Live's Chris Jansing on Thursday to discuss the death of mentally disturbed Daniel Prude in police custody in Rochester, New York, and quickly turned to defending or excusing street violence. He complained about "shifting the blame and focus from the violence of police to how black people respond to the violence that they experience."
The anti-war Left always suggests that you don't respond to violence with more violence. But the pro-rioting Left thinks street violence is a justifiable response to the "violence that they experience."
Chris Jansing began by asking Glaude to find the "larger context" of anti-police protesting. "Eddie, I know you touched on this at the beginning of our conversation, but help us to put this into the larger context and also, frankly, in the context of Joe Biden and what he's been doing and the message he's been sending versus what we hear from the president."
Glaude started by declaring that worrying about public safety is just a distraction. "When we hear the language of law and order, we need to understand its origin. It has everything to do with shifting the blame and focus from the violence of police to how black people respond to the violence that they experience."
If Glaude is truly concerned about distractions, it would make sense for him to be mad at the rioters, arsonists, and other criminals, but instead he said those people were just fighting for the cause, "So when we think about all of the urban unrest in the 20th century, 90 percent of that urban unrest, Chris, has been a result, has been a response to police violence. Ninety percent. [Footnote?] And so what we do is we respond to the, quote, unquote, looting and the violence, but we never address the underlying cause."
The professor never explained why he appeared to indicate only black people are committing acts of violence, nor did he explain how burning cars or stores is a moral, or even a practical way to respond to police violence.
Instead he cautioned Joe Biden against getting into a law and order debate over public violence, because we need to "Understand Dr. King and John Lewis engaging in non-violent protests were declared lawless. They were in fact in breach of law and order."
Glaude further advised Biden to ignore the Pennsylvania suburbs and instead, "point to a different way of understanding policing and safety. We see the elements of that in this recent commercial, a recent ad he's putting forward, reining in qualified immunity, but go deeper and speak to the underlining reason why people are risking their lives in the midst of a pandemic to protest against police violence, Chris."
This pro-rioting segment was ironically sponsored by CarShield.
Here is a transcript for the September 3 show:
MSNBC
MSNBC Live
11:11 AM ET
CHRIS JANSING: Rochester's police chief wouldn't comment on the cause of death citing two on-going investigations into the case and a potential lawsuit. Eddie, I know you touched on this at the beginning of our conversation, but help us to put this into the larger context and also, frankly, in the context of Joe Biden and what he's been doing and the message he's been sending versus what we hear from the president.
EDDIE GLAUDE JR.: I think it's really important. When we hear the language of law and order, we need to understand its origin. It has everything to do with shifting the blame and focus from the violence of police to how black people respond to the violence that they experience. So when we think about all of the urban unrest in the 20th century, 90% of that urban unrest, Chris, has been a result, has been a response to police violence. Ninety percent. And so what we do is we respond to the, quote, unquote, looting and the violence, but we never address the underlying cause. Here we have Prude in Rochester, New York, with a hood over his head. Think about what it means for us to see that video, for black children to see that video. Think about Jacob Blake getting shot in the back. Think about Trayvon Pellerin in Louisiana, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery. We can go on and on in this recent moment. The idea is not to engage in a debate about who is strong on law and order, who is more committed to law and order. Understand Dr. King and John Lewis engaging in non-violent protests were declared lawless. They were in fact in breach of law and order. So, part of what we have to do is change the frame so we can finally end this cycle of death, right? I don't want my son to experience this. I don't want his children to experience this. So what I think Vice President Biden, to answer this part of the question, must do is not shore up his bona fides around law and order to appeal to the suburbs of Pennsylvania, but to point to a different way of understanding policing and safety. We see the elements of that in this recent commercial, a recent ad he's putting forward, reigning in qualified immunity, but go deeper and speak to the underlining reason why people are risking their lives in the midst of a pandemic to protest against police violence, Chris.
