During a Face the Nation interview with Vice President Mike Pence that aired June 28, CBS News’ John Dickerson tried to pressure the vice president into using the phrase “black lives matter.”
In attempting to explain his reluctance to using the phrase by providing the context in which he views the Black Lives Matter movement, Pence’s words fell on deaf ears. Dickerson refused to listen to anything other than the vice president’s confirmation that he will not use the phrase, interrupting Pence’s explanatory dialogue and demanding that Pence confirm that he won’t use the phrase — without willingly giving him the opportunity to offer any explanations.
Dickerson interrupted Pence’s categorization of the Black Lives Matter movement: “What I see in the leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement is a political agenda of the radical left that would defund the police, that would …”
Here Dickerson cut off Pence, saying: “Leave that out of it. Just the phrase.”
Pence continued to provide his take on the BLM movement, saying they “tear down monuments, that would … press a radical left agenda … and support calls for the kind of violence that has beset the very communities that they say that they’re advocating for.”
Dickerson continued to press Pence on this point, asking: “So you won’t say black lives matter?”
Pence answered: “John, I really believe that all lives matter.”
Satisfied that he had somehow managed to get the vice president to admit to something incriminating, Dickerson merely said, “OK.”
Pence is far from alone in being castigated for countering the phrase “black lives matter” with the more inclusive phrase “all lives matter,” as if the two phrases are contradictory.
That “black lives” are a subset of “all lives” and should automatically be included in the latter phrase should be a given, but not everyone on the Left sees it that way. However, the media gave Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi a free pass when, as part of MSNBC’s town hall last year, she was asked by student Shelly Ward if she supported the Black Lives Matter movement. Pelosi’s response was no different than what Pence would say: “Well, I believe that all lives matter.”
That there was no uproar and no charges that Pelosi was a racist for saying the same is part of the double standard that asserts that only Republicans can be insensitive to the plight of black Americans, not liberal Democrats.
In fact, among the prominent individuals who have defend the use of the term “All lives matter” are several African Americans, including Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.); Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Dr. Ben Carson; and NFL football player Richard Sherman, who said, “I stand by what I said that All Lives Matter and that we are human beings.”
A survey conducted by the Rasmussen Reports found that 78 percent of those surveyed felt that the statement All Lives Matter was closer to their point of view than Black Lives Matter.
Image of Mike Pence: Screenshot of video by CBSNews.com
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The Deep (Left) Pockets of Black Lives Matter
Warren Mass has served The New American since its launch in 1985 in several capacities, including marketing, editing, and writing. Since retiring from the staff several years ago, he has been a regular contributor to the magazine. Warren writes from Texas and can be reached at [email protected]
