Charlamagne Tha God had an explosive interview on MSNBC show “Weekends With Alex Witt” on Sunday, May 10, in discussing Ahmaud Arbery being killed by father and son Gregory McMichael and Travis McMichael.
The radio personality seemed to surprise host Alex Witt when he suggested that Black people in the United States should buy firearms to protect themselves after saying that he wished Arbery had done so.
“My thoughts, man. Rest in peace to the brother and condolences to his family,” said Charlamagne. “I wish that brother had a gun on him while he was jogging so he could have defended himself against those thugs, those goons, those terrorists. I call them ‘Vanilla ISIS.’ … They hunted him down like he was a deer.”
“I would also tell all my brothers and sisters out there to go buy yourself a legal firearm and learn how to use it so you can protect yourself and your family,” he added. “I think when you are a Black person in America, owning a legal firearm is a form of self-care. … I wish that brother had a gun on him while jogging so he could have defended himself. I would much rather see him in prison fighting for his freedom as opposed to being in a casket right now.”
Rev. Al Sharpton was another guest on the show, and his take on the topic was about the changes he wants to see in the legal system. Witt asked Charlamagne to speak on the very same subject, instead of telling the Black community to arm itself.
“I’m sure you also understand that the prospect of everybody going out there and using guns to make their points or defend themselves or attack, that may not turn out well in the big picture,” Witt told Charlamagne, who corrected her.
“Well, that is not what I said,” he explained. “I didn’t say people should use their guns and go out there and attack. I said people should own legal firearms so they can defend themselves against these kind of attacks. That’s what I said.”
Charlamagne then told Witt and Sharpton that he has no faith in the justice system because he’s seen plenty of white people walk free after killing Black men in the United States, which is why he wants the Black community to arm itself.
“The Constitution is for all of us, right?” he asked.
Sharpton weighed in afterward and seemed to disagree with Charlamagne that purchasing firearms is the solution to preventing Black people from being killed by racist whites.
“Many of us that are committed to nonviolence, our problem is not people feeling they should get a gun, our problem is people that will not enforce the law,” Sharpton explained. “This young man had the legal right to jog, and he was killed. Now what is the system going to do about it?”
If Arbery’s mother Wanda Cooper-Jones has her way, the McMichaels will get the death penalty for killing her son.
“My point of view, my son died so they should die as well,” she told TMZ earlier this week.
