NAACP Legal Defense Fund President on Pence Not Saying ‘Black Lives Matter’: Even If He Did ‘It Would Be Hollow’

Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-general of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, criticized Vice President Mike Pence over comments he made about the Black Lives Matter movement and the words themselves on Face the Nation Sunday morning.

CBS’ John Dickerson started by asking about the video the president retweeted in which a supporter shouts “white power.” The president’s tweet has since been deleted.

Ifill said, “This is really not about the president taking it down. This is about the judgment of the president and putting it up. It’s about what the president believes. And it’s time for this country to really face that.”

Dickerson also referred back to his interview with Pence, in which the VP declined to say “black lives matter” multiple times. Pence similarly declined in another recent interview.

“I wonder in the current context that in this moment of protests, like we haven’t seen since the 1960s, what you think he misses about that phrase and what it means in this moment?” Dickerson asked.

Ifill responded:

“I think that we don’t have enough time on this program to actually explore all the things the vice president is likely missing. You know, even if the vice president had said black lives matter, it would be hollow. And I wouldn’t believe it. Because he is the vice president of the United States, just like we have a president, just like we have senators and they should be judged by their actions and what they do. And, you know, when I hear the vice president say that for his entire life, he has been guided by the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., then he would know what Dr. Martin Luther King Junior said about protests in 1965 and 66 that protested police violence in African-American communities when he said riots are the language of the unheard. So to hear him say that and then at the same time hear his comments about protests demonstrate that the vice president is far from understanding the significance of this moment and really what his obligation is when people across the country in 50 states, not just black people, but people of all races are coming together and standing together and saying enough is enough.”

After the interview, Ifill elaborated on Twitter, “Asking elected officials whose every policy and position is contrary to equality and justice for Black people to say ‘Black Lives Matter’ as though it’s an incantation of absolution diminishes the demand of this moment.”

Ifill also spoke with Dickerson about the efforts to address those issues in Congress and criticized the proposed Senate bill from Republicans saying, “It does not propose a regime of accountability. It proposes a regime of data collection and the creation of commissions to study a problem that we already know quite a bit about.”

You can watch above, via CBS.