Black Lives Matter to Detractors: 'We Are a Love Group'
The Black Lives Matter Network has responded to Fox News channel correspondents who have hurled harsh criticisms toward the movement this week. Elisabeth Hasselbeck questioned why the group hadn't been classified as a "hate group" and comedian Tom Shillue called the groups' actions "criminal stuff."
But the civil rights group founded in 2013 said in a statement that the accusations are false and that Hasselbeck and Shillue are TV personalities, not journalists, who are "sensationalizing tragedy to further their own agenda at the cost of reason, justice, and the democratic rights of Black people everywhere to demand an end to police violence and mass incarceration."
Moreover, the group adds that they are not a hate group. "We seek a world in which ALL Black lives matter, and racial hierarchy no longer organizes our lives or yours. This is a vision of love."
On Fox & Friends on Monday, Hasselbeck and co-host Brian Kilmeade talked to Kevin Jackson, executive director of The Blacksphere, about the recent killing of Houston-area deputy sheriff Darren Goforth and Black Lives Matter protests held at the Minnesota State Fair over the weekend.
“Kevin, why has the Black Lives Matter movement not been classified yet as a hate group?” Hasselbeck asked. “I mean, how much more has to go in this direction before someone actually labels it as such?”
Shillue had similar comments while guest-hosting Fox News show The Five on Monday.
"I think it’s shut-it-down time," he said. "I think it’s ridiculous. And I think that this is criminal stuff. These organizations — it’s not a civil rights movement. Call it what it is. It’s a lie from the beginning."
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