Shades of Dan Fairly!
On CNN This Morning, Don Lemon tried to make the case that, regardless of being debunked by a Justice Division investigation and report, the Ferguson-born slogan of “fingers up, do not shoot” was pretend however correct. As Lemon put it:
“Keep in mind, fingers up do not shoot, after Ferguson, grew to become a nationwide protest image for police mistreatment of minorities. It was about greater than the taking pictures of Michael Brown.”
Be aware that Lemon solely spoke of a “DoJ report” on Ferguson, debunking the “fingers, up, do not shoot,” declare. Lemon by no means revealed that the report was authored below the Justice Division management of Eric Holder, then-President Obama’s lawyer common and shut confidant.
Lemon made his declare within the context of criticizing Elon Musk for mocking the piles of #Keep Woke t-shirts he discovered at Twitter. He accused Musk of getting “repeated a right-wing speaking level suggesting that the protests following Brown’s demise had been overblown.”
Let’s take a look on the article on the topic from the Washington Submit—hardly a “hotbed of right-wing speaking factors.” Entitled, ‘Arms up, don’t shoot’ didn’t occur in Ferguson,” the article provides 4 Pinnochios to individuals claiming the opposite, and concludes [emphasis added]:
“Investigators have overwhelmingly rejected witness accounts that Brown had his fingers up in a give up earlier than being shot execution-style. The DOJ has concluded Wilson didn’t know whether or not Brown was armed, acted out of self-defense and was justified in killing Brown. The vast majority of witnesses instructed federal investigators that the preliminary claims that Brown’s fingers had been up weren’t correct. “Arms up, don’t shoot” didn’t occur in Brown’s killing, and it’s a characterization that deserves 4 Pinocchios.”
Lemon had the chutzpah to say throughout the phase, “information first right here on CNN.”
We bought your information proper right here, Don. Identical goes for Poppy Harlow, who after Lemon concluded his spiel, solemnly intoned, “Don, thanks for that. It is essential to have the information.”
On CNN This Morning, Don Lemon making an attempt to clarify away the truth that “fingers up, do not shoot” did not truly occur in Ferguson was sponsored partly by Pfizer, maker of Nexium and Chapstick.
Here is the transcript.
CNN This Morning
11/24/22
6:15 am ETELON MUSK: Right here we’re on the merch factor. And there is a complete, whole closet filled with — secret closet–off hashtag woke t-shirts.
DON LEMON: That was Twitter’s new proprietor, Elon Musk, mocking a t-shirt the corporate made years in the past in an effort to indicate help for its black staff and customers. Earlier proprietor Jack Dorsey wore the shirt throughout a 2016 panel with civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson. Some critics ridiculed him for him carrying it.
Throughout the panel, Dorsey talked about being on the bottom in Ferguson for protests over the deadly police taking pictures of Michael Brown.
In a now-deleted follow-up tweet, Musk famous that the shirts got here after the Ferguson protests, and repeated a right-wing speaking level suggesting that the protests following Brown’s demise had been overblown.
And he wrote, and I quote right here, “fingers up, do not shoot” was made up. The entire thing was a fiction.
Now, Musk changed the deleted tweet with a follow-up tweet containing solely the hyperlink to a Division of Justice report on Brown’s demise.Okay, information first right here on CNN. Musk mentioned that “fingers up, do not shoot” was made up — the entire thing was a fiction. This wants some context.
[Cut to clip of Ferguson protesters chanting, “hands up, don’t shoot.]
So the phrase fingers up, do not shoot grew to become a nationwide rallying cry in 2014 in solidarity with Michael Brown, the black teenager who some witnesses mentioned had his fingers as much as give up when he was shot and killed by a white police officer, Darren Wilson.In 2015, the Justice Division solid doubt on the “fingers up” account, concluding in a report that Wilson shot Brown a number of instances solely as Brown was transferring in the direction of the officer. That is what Musk is referencing in his tweets.
The DoJ didn’t discover grounds to cost the officer. However in a separate report launched the identical day, it did discover proof of systematic racial discrimination in Ferguson by the hands of the town’s police division and municipal courtroom. Now, the DoJ, in a scathing report, pointed to the statistics for proof. Black individuals in Ferguson are twice as more likely to be searched throughout car stops than whites. Although white individuals had been discovered to have contraband at the next price than black individuals. Not less than 85% of these pulled over, ticketed, or arrested for visitors violations had been black, and the Justice Division mentioned it was cash not public security that the division and the town targeted on. And black residents paid the best worth.
So bear in mind, fingers up do not shoot, after Ferguson, grew to become a nationwide protest image for police mistreatment of minoritie. It was about greater than the taking pictures of Michael Brown. That is concerning the sample of police shootings and brutality on this nation. And hashtag “Keep Woke,” which Musk mocked, was how Twitter needed referred to as out racial injustice — how they needed to name out racial injustice. Poppy?
POPPY HARLOW: Don, thanks for that. It is essential to have the information.