Categorized | Uncategorized

Cuomo Cries Racism for Philly Shooting, Downplays Knife Aimed at Cops

Posted on 27 October 2020

As the streets of West Philadelphia were being looted and razed, CNN’s Chris Cuomo was keeping his viewers in a haze. Throughout Tuesday’s PrimeTime, he insisted the police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. was the latest example of systemic racism by our nation’s police departments. Initially ignoring how Wallace had chased two officers around with a knife, he eventually took to huffing about the officers not having tasers. But he never mentioned that the department was defunded over the summer. “And by the way, it's not the only moment of crisis,” he proclaimed during his opening rant. “Another black man shot and killed by police in the key state of Pennsylvania. Walter Wallace Jr. The name we now must all know. Just 27, killed yesterday in front of his mom in Philadelphia. She was chasing after him, begging cops not to shoot a man who was clearly in mental distress.” Ignoring how this person whose name we should apparently memorize had brandished a knife and attacked police officers, Cuomo tried to appeal to emotions over facts and chiding the officers. “And it is so sad. You will feel yourself watching it. You can see that the police don't know what to do. They don't know how to make the situation any different than it is unfolding. You see the mother's desperation and you feel yourself saying, ‘don't, don't, don't,’ just like his mother was,” he insisted. From there, he literally gave the Biden campaign a free advertisement as he promoted his family’s friend as the solution to the problem (click “expand”): CUOMO: The Biden team put out a statement on the shooting today, an earlier pledge to act on addressing systemic racism in our country. But for Biden, the first step to dealing with the virus of racism or the coronavirus, is to get a president who cares about fighting these problems. [Cuts to video] BIDEN: A president who is not in it for himself but for others. A president who doesn't divide us but unites us. A president who appeals not to the worst in us but the best. [Transition] Well, I will govern as an American president. [Transition] I will work as hard for those who don't support me as for those who do. That's the job of a president. A duty of care for everyone. [Cuts back to live] CUOMO: There certainly is a need for care. We are certainly a country in crisis. Those things we know. What we don't know is what happens next.     As Black Lives Matter rioters took to the streets of West Philadelphia for the second night to loot and destroy, Cuomo made another pitch to go vote for the one to supposedly end the chaos: But there are other things matter and that will matter to your vote. Okay? Especially when it comes to how we are dealing with what is perceived as systemic racism when it comes to policing. Another black man has been killed. Once more this president is silent. Only when leading into an interview with Wallace’s father Walter Wallace Sr. and family lawyer Shaka Johnson, did Cuomo mention Wallace Jr. had a knife. “Officers were called to the scene Monday. Why? Report of a man with a knife. They showed up. They found a man with a knife,” he said, eventually complaining about the officer’s lack of tasers. Towards the end of the interview, and after Wallace Sr. claimed his son wouldn’t hurt anyone even with a knife, Johnson ranted about how Philly police “have a $730 million budget annually, and you do not put priority on less lethal methods.” Cuomo latched on Johnson’s comments and argued: “You’re setting them up for failure if they have to deal with more sophisticated situations than somebody trying to shoot at them.” But missing from the discussion was how the department had a combined $33 million taken away from them over the summer. Back in June, the Philadelphia City Council decided to cancel a $19 million increase in police funding and diverted an additional $14 million. That could buy a lot of tasers. Chris Cuomo’s anti-police ranting was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Consumer Cellular and Crest. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they’re funding. The transcript is below, click "expand" to read: CNN’s Cuomo PrimeTime October 27, 2020 9:06:04 p.m. Eastern (…) CHRIS CUOMO: And by the way, it's not the only moment of crisis. Another black man shot and killed by police in the key state of Pennsylvania. Walter Wallace Jr. The name we now must all know. Just 27, killed yesterday in front of his mom in Philadelphia. She was chasing after him, begging cops not to shoot a man who was clearly in mental distress. You don't have to believe me. There is tape. And it is so sad. You will feel yourself watching it. You can see that the police don't know what to do. They don't know how to make the situation any different than it is unfolding. You see the mother's desperation and you feel yourself saying, “don't, don't, don't,” just like his mother was. The Biden team put out a statement on the shooting today, an earlier pledge to act on addressing systemic racism in our country. But for Biden, the first step to dealing with the virus of racism or the coronavirus, is to get a president who cares about fighting these problems. [Cuts to video] JOE BIDEN: A president who is not in it for himself but for others. A president who doesn't divide us but unites us. A president who appeals not to the worst in us but the best. [Transition] Well, I will govern as an American president. [Transition] I will work as hard for those who don't support me as for those who do. That's the job of a president. A duty of care for everyone. [Cuts back to live] CUOMO: There certainly is a need for care. We are certainly a country in crisis. Those things we know. What we don't know is what happens next. (…) 9:41:35 p.m. Eastern CUOMO: But there are other things matter and that will matter to your vote. Okay? Especially when it comes to how we are dealing with what is perceived as systemic racism when it comes to policing. Another black man has been killed. Once more this president is silent. Once again, people are in pain and not being heard, so they've taken to the streets. And righteous calls for justice are being marred by acts of injustice in their midst. Cops hurt, property destroyed. Another family grieving. (…) 9:46:56 p.m. Eastern CUOMO: The second night, protests underway after the shooting death of 27-year-old Walter Wallace Jr. by Philadelphia police. Officers were called to the scene Monday. Why? Report of a man with a knife. They showed up. They found a man with a knife. Cell phone video shows us what happened next. It's absolutely disturbing and it is absolutely reality. And we need to see it if we want to deal with it. (…) 9:47:47 p.m. Eastern CUOMO: Now, the woman you saw in the video chasing the man in black was his mother. And she was pleading with him to calm down and to try to control himself. Why? Because Walter Wallace Jr. was in distress. The family said it alerted police that Wallace Jr. had mental health issues. That police needed to use de-escalation tactics. They didn't even have tasers. (…) 9:53:17 p.m. Eastern SHAKA JOHNSON (Wallace family lawyer): I think that one of the things that we have spoken about since the onset of this particular issue, one of the things we talked about immediately was the fact that the officers visa-vis the police department did not have what they needed. There wasn't a less-than-lethal option available. So, to your question-- CUOMO: Right. They didn't have tasers. JOHNSON: They didn't have tasers. Which is important. I can't think of a scenario that better designed for the deployment of an electronic control device than this particular scenario here. Where you respond to an incident. You are given some preliminary information; which officers sometimes don't have. That a person is in mental decline, mental crisis. And then the person displays a weapon. Not the kind of weapon that can hurt you from a distance, but one that requires close quarters combat. And then you’re outside, so you don't have the element of being indoors and contained. The best thing for that particular scenario would have been what the Philadelphia Police Department has not outfitted their officers with. Which is less-than-lethal weapons. There is no priority that’s been out on that particular thing. So, when you say with respect is, is this race or is this color, when you gave us those scenarios to choose from, I have to wonder. When you have a $730 million budget annually, and you do not put priority on less lethal methods. But every training academy you give officers a badge, you give them a gun, you give them rounds of ammunition, and you train them how to kill. You train them how to hit center mass and headshots. You’ve trained them on that. CUOMO: You’re setting them up for failure if they have to deal with more sophisticated situations than somebody trying to shoot at them. JOHNSON: You are setting them up, you are setting the community up. And it is a lose-lose situation. (…)