Ted Cruz, currently vying for the GOP nomination, said some characteristically ridiculous remarks about the Black Lives Matter movement on Wednesday at a campaign stop in Iowa. Like Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Donald Trump, Cruz continues to push his agenda that Black Lives Matter “celebrates” the murder of police officers.
Think Progress caught up with the candidate, who said he’d meet with BLM activists, before saying, “If you look at the Black Lives Matter movement, one of the most disturbing things is more than one of their protests have embraced rabid rhetoric, rabid anti-police language, literally suggesting and embracing and celebrating the murder of police officers. That is disgraceful.”
Cruz used the killing of a white Texas Deputy by a black man a couple of months ago as an example of the “anti-police” state BLM has purportedly inspired, though the black man had no ties to BLM. The Texas Sen. has made similar comments previously saying, “…We are seeing a manifestation of the rhetoric and vilification of law enforcement that is coming from the top—all the way to the President of the United States and senior administration officials.”
Black Lives Matter leader Johnetta “Netta” Elzie responded to the disparaging comments: “It’s amazing to me that black people and their allies affirming that Black Lives Matter is somehow celebrating murder,” she told ThinkProgress. “Nothing about us affirming our own lives has anything to do with ‘embracing and celebrating the murder of police officers.' We came out our houses because we were tired of seeing police officers hurt, harm and murder black bodies with impunity. Not because we want to see any police officer killed.”
Alhough statistics show 2015 to be the second safest year for police on record, 58% of voters seem to agree that there’s a “War on Cops.”
[via ThinkProgress]
