‘I’m Looking at the Trail of Dead Black People!’ Marc Lamont Hill, Ex-Detective Clash over Cops

Marc Lamont Hill and ex-NYPD detective Harry Houck got into quite the shouting match on CNN tonight over black deaths at the hands of the police.

They were mostly focused on the case of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, who died in police custody, and Walter Scott, who was shot dead by Officer Michael Slager in a confrontation caught on camera.

Regarding the Baltimore case, Houck argued the police were just patrolling a high-crime neighborhood and asked, “What, are they gonna go around looking for white guys to stop when there’s none there?”

He told Hill he shouldn’t be making assumptions about the racial motivations of cops. Hill retorted that whatever might be in these officers’ heads, nothing justifies abusing people like what happened to Gray. And, he added, “White guys aren’t just turning up dead from police at the same rate that black people are!”

Houck pushed back and asked who commits more crimes in New York City, scolding Hill for the implication cops are “murdering people” when there are isolated incidents “out of the millions and millions.”

Hill brought up the Scott video and asked him, “Do you think that’s the only time that’s happened?” Houck said he’s making a false assumption, and Hill shouted, “I’m looking at the trail of dead black people at the hand of law enforcement!”

Watch the full segment below, via CNN:

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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