Hawk Newsome defended the protests and violent riots that have erupted across the nation during a heated Wednesday segment with Fox News host Martha MacCallum.
Newsome, who chairs Black Lives Matter of Greater New York, argued that because violence and rioting appeared to be getting the point across more effectively, those efforts were justifiable. (RELATED: ‘They Took Our Rights Away’: Citizen Living In Seattle’s Autonomous Zone Speaks Out)
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MacCallum began by quoting Newsome as saying that he wanted to “shove legislation down people’s throats,” and then asked him, “What exactly is it that you hope to achieve through violence?”
Newsome responded by claiming that the United States had been “built upon violence,” citing the American Revolution and arguing that American diplomacy largely consisted of blowing up other countries and replacing their leaders with leaders we liked better.
“So for any American to accuse us of being violent, it’s extremely hypocritical,” Newsome said as MacCallum tried to cut in. “Now when we talk about us using self defense, we use — why are you screaming and not allowing me to talk, ma’am? You asked me a question, allow me to answer. I’m in the process of answering and it won’t be that much longer. You asked what we hope to achieve, we are talking about self defense.”
Newsome went on to argue that the protests were a form of self defense and that the ultimate goal was to save lives.
“When we talk about uplifting and upholding the Second Amendment I think you should be applauding me. Seeing as though you are huge supporters of the Second Amendment, it seems to be the hypocrisy of America that when black people start talking about arming themselves and defending themselves, the talk is violent,” Newsome continued. “But when white people grab assault rifles and go to our nation state capitals, it’s all good.”
MacCallum jumped back in then to say that she had never discussed her personal position on the Second Amendment.
“That’s not my role to talk about my opinion,” she said.
Newsome pressed again, asking MacCallum to state definitively whether or not she supported the Second Amendment. “A lot of your viewers would like to know if you support the Second Amendment,” he pressed.
“Well, that’s fine but that’s not why we are here,” MacCallum said. “The only reason I posed that first question to you the way that I did, I watched you talking on a bunch of different interviews today and you said, ‘Burn it down.’ You said it, ‘Burn it down, it’s time.’ So that makes me think that you want to burn it down.”
“If this country doesn’t give us what we want then we will burn down the system and replace it,” Newsome replied. “And I could be speaking figuratively, I could be speaking literally. It’s a matter of interpretation.”
Newsome then broke down recent history, claiming that every time a police officer had hurt someone, they had been told to wait for due process.
“But the moment people start destroying property, now cops can be fired automatically,” he continued. “What is this country rewarding? What behavior is it listening to? Obviously not marching, but when people get aggressive and they escalate their protests, cops get fired. Now, you have police officers and Republican politicians talking about police reform. I don’t condone nor do I condemn rioting, but I’m just telling what I observed.”
MacCallum then mentioned Martin Luther King Jr, who said, “Let us be dissatisfied until that day when nobody will shout, ‘White Power!’ when nobody will shout, ‘Black Power!’ but everybody will talk about God’s power and human power.”
“Do you agree with that?” she turned the question to Newsome.
“I love the Lord,” he replied, adding, “And my Lord and savior Jesus Christ is the most famous black radical revolutionary in history. And he was treated just like Dr. King. He was arrested on occasion, and he was also crucified or assassinated. This is what happens to black activists, we are killed by the government.”
Newsome then repeated several times that Jesus had not been a white man, to which MacCallum said that he had been Middle Eastern.
“I appreciate you coming on tonight. I know that you are very passionate and you want what’s best,” MacCallum tried to wrap up the segment.
“I just want black liberation and black sovereignty by any means necessary,” Newsome replied.