'Fox & Friends' Says Something Super Appalling

Darren Goforth, a white police officer, was fatally shot by a black man at a gas station outside Houston, Texas, Friday night, prompting Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman to say at a press conference Saturday: "We've heard Black Lives Matter, All Lives Matter. Well, cops' lives matter too." Fox News took the false Black Lives Matter association a step further, claiming in an on-screen banner that it had become a "murder movement" and was "out of control" during a Fox & Friends broadcast Monday morning. Let's get one thing straight — Black Lives Matter is not about murder, it's about ending violence. Incidents of white cops murdered by black people being chalked up to Black Lives Matter detract from the movement's real goals, and Fox News calling Black Lives Matter a "murder movement" gave a totally misleading narrative.

Goforth was killed while wearing his police uniform, but there's no connection between Black Lives Matter and the suspect aside from Sheriff Hickman's comment. Fox News simply followed Sheriff Hickman's lead in speculating that the shooter killed Goforth because of the Black Lives Matter movement. Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade interviewed Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke about Goforth's murder, and Clarke said: "The headline is 'black man shoots white defenseless police officer' because I get sick and tired when it's the other way around. When an officer defends his life, they always point out that it's a white officer shooting an unarmed black suspect." As Clarke spoke, Fox showed footage of Black Lives Matter protests.

A black man killing a white police officer and a news organization claiming it's part of Black Lives Matter only distracts the country from the movement's real goal of ending police discrimination and brutality against people of color. Deray McKesson, a Black Lives Matter leader, tweeted Saturday: "It is sad that some have chosen to politicize this tragedy by falsely attributing the officer's death to a movement seeking to end violence." Black Lives Matter has not morphed into a violent vendetta against white cops — its priorities have not changed.

Black Lives Matter activists pointed out that isolated incidents of violence have been used to discredit movements in the past:

Fox News took full advantage of an opportunity to misrepresent the movement's intentions and actions. Black Lives Matter is not a "murder movement," so let's not allow a detached shooting to distract from its message.

Images: Fox News (1)