Don Lemon Calls Out Apathy Over the Ahmaud Arbery Shooting: ‘How Much More Can We Take?’

On Friday, CNN host Don Lemon said the African-American community was “tired” of suffering under racial injustices and cited the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery as an example of racial intolerance in America, plus the disparate impact the Covid-19 pandemic was having on African-Americans.

“The whole thing is troubling. A young black man shot to death in broad daylight,” Lemon said, referring to Arbery’s death.

But that is what happens, that is why people are so upset with “very fine people on both sides.” That’s the kind of attitude that feels empowered in this country with those types of comments. That is why African-Americans in this country are so tired right now. We’re so vexed. That is why we’re so upset…

We are tired. We are tired. Exhausted from this. I am going to talk to Ahmaud Arbery’s grieving mother tonight. But the fact is, communities of color feel like we are under siege, in this country. How many videos have we seen like this video of Ahmaud Arbery’s last moments? How many people of color have been attacked and killed in broad daylight? How many people would never, ever have heard about them, if it had not been for videos, like this.

The CNN anchor later went on to note that “counties with higher black populations account for more than half of all the Covid-19 cases.” According to the Washington Post, over 78,000 Americans have lost their lives to Covid-19 as the number of cases continues to rise.

Lemon continued, “Are you listening, America? We are tired of jumping on everyone else’s bandwagon to help everybody else. To help women, who are fighting discrimination in the workplace. To help the #MeToo movement. To help everybody else. LGBTQ communities. When are people going to care? Us, too. Us, too. Hashtag us, too. When are people going to care about our issues? Why should African-Americans care about opening up this country and rebuilding the economy, if you are going to rebuild the economy on our backs when we are the people who are dying?”

“Is it any wonder that African-American communities, my communities, my people, that we are exhausted, that we are full of dread and sadness, wondering how much more can we take? That’s the question. Not, what do you have to lose? The question is, how much more can we take? Think about that. Answer that question. For me. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.”