Larry Elder Unloads: “No, Racism Is Not A Major Problem” In America

CNN contributor Marc Lamont Hill and radio host Larry Elder got into a fiery shouting match today on CNN over racism in America, following tension in Ferguson.

“For crying out loud! This is not your grandfather’s America,” Elder said. “We ought not act like it is.”

Elder took issue with the wall-to-wall coverage, Eric Holder and Obama’s recent statements, and the national attention on white cops killing “unarmed blacks,” which suggests that America is just as racist today, as it was 50 years ago.

“You think the problem of unarmed black people is a major problem in America and I don’t,” Elder said to Hill.

Referring to a study that says a black person is killed in America every 28 hours, Hill said, “If this study bears out, and it does, that means that at least every 28 hours, an unarmed black person is killed [by police]. That is also is a problem.”

“That means it’s less than two percent of the total,” Elder interjected. “7,000 black people are killed every year, less than two percent are killed by police officers in an unarmed way. So why don’t we talk about the 98%?”

Indeed, young black men do, sadly, commit nearly 50% of the murders in America. And that fact never produces and galvanizes protests or ongoing national debates. 

“And many of these murders in Chicago are unsolved. At least we know what happened in the Michael Brown case,” Elder added.

“But the reason we are talking about an unarmed kid now,” Hill said, “is because one was just killed. When a black child is killed in the street, unarmed, you can’t trump it by saying it’s less than two percent.”

However, new reports reveal that Michael Brown viscously attacked and fractured the eye socket of Darren Wilson, the officer who shot and killed him. The new reports back up officer Wilson’s version of the story, suggesting that Michael Brown was the aggressor on the day he was killed.