Civil rights activist Leo Terrell and Fox News contributor Geraldo Rivera sparred Thursday over NBA players protesting the shooting of Jacob Blake by sitting out playoff games.
Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer introduced the “Bill Hemmer Reports” segment by playing a clip of President Donald Trump saying the league has “become like a political organization.”
Geraldo began the discussion by defending the players as being genuinely fearful that what happened to Blake could happen to them.
“The video of Jacob Blake getting shot in the back seven times by the cop at point-blank range was something that every black man in this country I fear related to,” he said. “Those players looked at that and they said, ‘what happens when I’m driving home from a game and I see the blue lights behind me because maybe my taillight is out or something like that and the cop comes up to me, and what if he’s in a bad mood or had bad training? He thinks that I’m reaching for my license, I’m reaching for something else and I get shot also?’ There is a fragility about this.”
Geraldo argued that the players aren’t “just being spoiled brats,” but rather “responding in a visceral, visceral way.”
Terrell, on the other hand, insisted that that kind of fear isn’t shared by every black American.
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“First of all, Geraldo, respectfully, every black man doesn’t feel like they’re being chased by the police,” said Terrell, citing Republican South Carlina Sen. Tim Scott as an example of someone who has been stopped many times, yet “does not look at the police officers as bogeymen.”
After some back and forth, Terrell said Geraldo was “missing the point.”
“Black people do not have a racial animus towards police officers,” Terrell insisted. “Why? Because there are black police officers, there’s white, there are brown, there are yellow. This is not 1950, and these black players are rich multimillionaires who are surrounded by private police protection.”
The civil rights attorney then turned to the Blake shooting, saying, “I find it disingenuous for them to make a determination about this situation before all the facts are in. Remember Rayshard Brooks, Geraldo? Remember the Atlanta situation? Everybody rushed to conclusions. This is not George Floyd. They use it as a pretext, and the president is right, the NBA and the WNBA is an operative of the Democratic Party.”
“Did you see the video?” Geraldo asked.
“I saw the video,” Terrell responded. “I have been doing police misconduct for 30 years, and you wait until all the facts are in. Shame on you. You’re a lawyer. Rayshard Brooks, remember the situation in Atlanta?”
Geraldo dismissed Terrell’s point by insisting the players were “reacting viscerally” and “not waiting for the grand jury minutes.”
“You see what you see,” he said. (RELATED: Former Navy SEAL Tells Tucker What To Do If You Find Yourself ‘Surrounded By A Mob’)
The two continued to spar back and forth, with Terrell insisting that America is “a nation of laws.”
“We don’t burn and loot and riot,” he said. “We are a nation of laws. We wait.”
After the entire Wednesday slate of games were cancelled, the NBA reportedly has decided to resume the playoffs.