In the aftermath of the Dallas police shooting on Thursday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani contrasted the efforts of police with the efforts of the “Black Lives Matter” movement, saying that cops save more black lives than protesters.
“The reason that there’s a target on police officers’ backs is because of groups like Black Lives Matter,” Giuliani said on MSNBC on Friday. Such groups, he argued, “make it seem like all police are against blacks.”
“They’re not!” Giuliani explained. “They’re the ones saving black lives. Black Lives Matter is not saving any black lives, it’s the police officers who are doing it.”
Giuliani became famous for hiring a new police commissioner for New York City, William Bratton, who applied the Broken Windows theory of urban decay, which holds that minor crimes create a permissive atmosphere leading to further and more serious crimes. He was widely credited for major improvements in the city’s quality of life, and for lowering the rate of violent crimes.
This tough-on-crime popularity led Giuliani to seek the Republican nomination for president in 2008, but he withdrew to support the eventual nominee, Arizona Senator John McCain.
Here’s the video:
Rudy Giuliani: “Black lives matter isn’t saving any black lives, it’s the police officers who are doing it.” https://t.co/qVmoPxptdc
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) July 8, 2016
After these comments, Giuliani’s name trended on Twitter, as Black Lives Matter advocates expressed their outrage.
You know who Rudy Giuliani thinks IS saving black lives? You’ll be astonished to learn that it’s the police. — Big Sexy Jeb! Lund (@Mobute) July 8, 2016
Rudy Giuliani has been damaging race relations for at least 27 years now.
— Armando (@armandodkos) July 8, 2016
DISGUSTING: Rudy Giuliani slams “racial agitators” advises “calm down, no demonstrations, get in control-let crim justice system do its job” — Jordan (@JordanChariton) July 8, 2016
Some had more reasoned responses.
No, Rudy Giuliani, #BlackLivesMatter is not an anti-police organization. They’re a “please stop killing us with impunity” organization.
— (((Emanuel Z.))) (@therealezway) July 8, 2016
Giuliani also made news recently by criticizing the decision of FBI Director James Comey to reccomend no charges in the case of Hillary Clinton’s email scandal.
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