GRANT STINCHFIELD (HOST): In Dallas this week we lost our 25th office of the year. Shot and killed while trying to arrest a shoplifting suspect. Singer John Legend, in a recent Twitter piece, gets on this vicious attack against police. In a Twitter rant against the police he says, “Please stop calling the police on black people who are just trying to live. Please. Stop. Police shoot us for no,” you fill in the blank, “reason at all.” That got 37,000 retweets and over 100,000 likes. That’s the violent rhetoric that they are spreading to millions of followers. And it’s flat out false. My next guest did not allow that to stand and pushed back on Twitter against John Legend, “This is a racist statement that contradicts real evidence and statistics and inflames division between the police and communities. People call the police when they need help. Ask the crime victims in Chicago, Baltimore and Detroit, most of which are unfortunately black.” It is very sad, but he’s absolutely correct.
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BERNARD KERIK: I do think that the criminals out there, the bad guys that want to do bad things, they’re emboldened by people like John Legend and others who spew this nonsense rhetoric that is completely false and lies to generate divisiveness in communities.
STINCHFIELD: You know, John Legend is certainly a talented singer, but he has proven his ignorance by what he writes on Twitter. I think he does a great disservice to America and even the people in his community that he is trying to speak to. In many respects, he makes the situation worse.
