Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani stirred up controversy during a Sunday visit to Face the Nation. While addressing a rush of Black Lives Matter protests — which have run nationwide after the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile — Giuliani expressed his belief that the organization was “inherently racist” because it focused “on 1 percent of less than 1 percent of the murder” that happens in America and makes it “a national thing.” He also placed some blame on hip hop music and emphasized his belief that black parents should teach their children to respect police and worry more about the other neighborhood children because there’s “a 99% chance they’re going to kill you, not the police.”
Giuliani appeared to be referring to the 2014 FBI homicide statistic that claims 90% of black murder victims are killed by black people. Indeed, Giuliani confirmed he got the statistic wrong during a Monday morning visit to Fox and Friends. He also reiterated his belief that Black Lives Matter is a racist movement. Giuliani then claimed he did a lot more to save black people than the organization in question:
“I saved more black lives than anyone in the history of the city. I took over the city with 1,924 murders; I gave it to Mayor Bloomberg with 500-plus murders. 75 percent of the people saved during that time were African-American. I believe I saved a lot more black lives than Black Lives Matter. I don’t see what Black Lives Matter is doing for blacks other than isolating them. All it cares about is the police shooting of blacks. It doesn’t care about the 90 percent of blacks that are killed by the blacks. That is a simple fact.”
Giuliani’s speaking of his former mayoral feats in NYC, even as he criticizes Black Lives Matter for not focusing more on murder in Chicago. Well, Giuliani isn’t wrong. The NYC murder rate did dramatically lower while he held the office, but this was largely the work of Police Commissioner William Bratton, who secured his position with a bold proposal to reduce the city’s crime rate by 40%. When Bratton left the office the first time (he’s currently back in the position) after two years, the homicides had lowered by 50%. Sure, Giuliani hired Bratton after seeing the plan, but Giuliani didn’t reduce the crime rate on his own. All of Giuliani’s quoting of statistics eventually culminates with “Don’t tell me I don’t care about black lives!”
Here’s the clip of Giuliani’s Monday visit to Fox and Friends.
If you missed it, here’s Giuliani’s Sunday Face the Nation appearance.
(Sources: FBI.gov & Governing.com)