Author and TV host Touré unleashed on conservative commentator Kmele Foster after he downplayed the killings of unarmed African-Americans by police by arguing that “only 20” Black people died at the hands of police last year.
The two appeared on MSNBC’s “AM Joy” this week, where they discussed Black athletes like Colin Kaepernick and LeBron James using their platforms to address pressing issues like systematic racism and police brutality. Foster, a co-host of the libertarian podcast “The Fifth Column,” argued against the former footballer being the so-called “tip of the spear.”
” … The fact is there is a lot about the conversation about police reforms, police-involved shootings that I think is very unhealthy,” Foster argued. “The fact is that when people in a Black Lives Matter camp talk about things or someone takes a knee, the thinking is anyone who disagrees with their perspective does so because they don’t care about Black lives.”
Touré (far right) was visibly flabbergasted when Kmele Foster made light of the killings of Black people by police. (MSNBC / video screenshot)
“I would say if you have a movement like this, you’re interested in achieving reforms, it’s not apparent that having Colin Kaepernick at the tip of your spear is good,” he continued. “He’s going to inflame things that are a bit hyperbolic and don’t really get to the heart of the issue.”
At one point during the segment, Foster made light of recent police killings, noting that “only 20” African-Americans were gunned down by police in 2017.
“We shouldn’t be hysterical,” Foster said. “ In 2017, we had less than 1,000 people shot by police. Only about 68 of those people [killed by police in 2017] were unarmed and only 20 of those people were Black. Thirty of them were white.”
He described police violence as an issue affecting “all Americans of all races” and warned against making it “narrowly about race.”
Foster’s comments left Touré clearly agitated.
“The core issue here is the killing, the wrongful killing of black people by agents of their government,” Touré shot back. “Colin Kaepernick is morally right — indeed, has a moral imperative to speak about this when he has a platform. And the notion that you don’t do this in your workplace really doesn’t fit.”
“When you have a case of life and death, one, two, three is far too many wrongfully killed by our government,” he added. “My question is not why is Kaepernick saying so much, my question is why are not more people saying more? Because this is an incredibly important issue in modern America? … Why would we settle for any number of Black people being wrongfully killed by their own government?”
Watch more of their debate below.
