Greater New York Black Lives Matter president Hawk Newsome told RT President Donald Trump is encouraging violence against him and the Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police movements, which are led by “changemakers.”
Newsome gained national attention this week following a tweet from the president that suggested the BLM leader is a traitor for his comments about “burning” down the American system if his movement is not given what it wants.
The tweet, Newsome says, “put a target on a movement that most Americans see as favorable.” He suggests Trump “riled up his base to be violent toward myself and toward other activists.”
Newsome provided no examples of this potential violence against him and “other activists,” but he has said he does not condemn the “rioting” seen at protests over the death of George Floyd across the nation.
As for what his demands from the “system” are, the BLM leader says the Defund the Police movement needs to find more support from the government and more police officers need to be “put in jail.”
Newsome believes police are not always necessary to stop crimes and funding for departments should be going to “education” and mental health services in an effort to prevent crime from happening at all.
“People commit crimes out of poverty, mental health issues, desperation,” he says, acknowledging that white people, “especially white women feel unsafe about defunding the police but what we’re saying is put the money back into community organizations.”
While the idea of completely wiping out crime merely by putting money into education and mental health issues may seem radical, Newsome says America is an “experiment” ready for “change” and he compares the perceived extreme nature of the Defund the Police movement to the innovations of Apple founder Steve Jobs, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, “or even Albert Einstein.”
“You’re always crazy until you’re right.”
While Newsome is no fan of the president, he did acknowledge that Trump’s administration has tackled issues related to black struggles in America, including “mass incarceration,” which Trump has attempted to reform through efforts like the First Step Act, which makes it easier for non-violent criminals to be released from prison.
By tackling “mass incarceration” but not supporting the Defund the Police movement, the administration, he claims, is “addressing an issue and denying it at the same time.”
