Black Lives Matter Leader: If America ‘Doesn’t Give Us What We Want, We Will Burn Down this System’

Appearing Wednesday on the Fox News Channel’s The Story with host Martha MacCallum, Greater New York Black Lives Matter president Hawk Newsome warned that if the United States “doesn’t give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it.”
Black Lives Matter president Hawk Newsome joined “The Story” to discuss the direction of the movement that swept the nation in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
“You … have said that violence is sometimes necessary in these situations,” host Martha MacCallum told Newsome. “What exactly is it that you hope to achieve through violence?”
“Wow, it’s interesting that you would pose that question like that,” Newsome responded, “because this country is built upon violence. What was the American Revolution, what’s our diplomacy across the globe?
“We go in and we blow up countries and we replace their leaders with leaders who we like. So for any American to accuse us of being violent is extremely hypocritical.”
MacCallum clarified that the question was simply based off of comments she had heard Newsome say in other interviews.
“I said,” Newsome told the host, “if this country doesn’t give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it. All right? And I could be speaking … figuratively. I could be speaking literally. It’s a matter of interpretation.”
“Let’s observe the history of the 1960s when black people were rioting,” he went on. “We had the highest growth in wealth, in property ownership. Think about the last few weeks since we started protesting. There have been eight cops fired across the country.”
“I don’t condone nor do I condemn rioting,” Newsome added. “But I’m just telling you what I observed.”
“Nobody’s talking about ambushing police officers. We’re talking about protecting lives,” he said. “There’s nothing more American than that. We talk about uplifting and upholding the Second Amendment but it seems to be the hypocrisy of America that when black people start talking about arming themselves and defending themselves, [that] talk is ‘violent’. But when white people grab assault rifles and go to our nation’s, their state capitals, it’s all good.”
“Let us be dissatisfied,” King told the Southern Christian Leadership Conference convention in 1967, “until that day when nobody will shout, ‘White power!’ when nobody will shout, ‘Black power!’, but everybody will talk about God’s power and human power.’”