Texas Lt. Governor Calls Dallas Protesters ‘Hypocrites’ For Expecting Police Protection

CREDIT: Screenshot, Fox News

In an emotional interview on Fox News on Friday, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick blamed Black Lives Matter and people who “have a big mouth” on social media for the shooting in Dallas. He also said that the protesters were hypocritical for running from the shooting and expecting the police to protect them.

“I do blame people on social media with their hatred towards police. I do blame — I saw Jesse Jackson, I think it was on Fox last night, calling police racist without any facts. I do blame former Black Lives Matter protests,” Patrick said in an interview first picked up by the Texas Tribune. “I grew up in a world, I’ve been around long enough, we’ve always had bad people, we always had dangerous people, too many in the general public that aren’t criminals but have a big mouth are creating situations like we saw last night.”

“All those protesters last night, they ran the other way expecting the men and women in blue to turn around and protect them. What hypocrites!”

The shots rang out at a rally on Thursday demonstrating against the killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, two black men who died by police bullets in the past few days. Their deaths, on top of the many other high-profile killings of unarmed or apparently nonthreatening black men and women, have sparked widespread outrage across the country. A civil rights investigation has been opened into the death of Sterling, and the Minnesota Governor has said that race was likely a factor in Castile’s death.

Before the shots rang out, the protest in Dallas was peaceful. The police were at a rally to protect the marchers — as they do for most large events — and the mood was genial: Police and marchers were posing for pictures with each other.

Black Lives Matter (BLM) leaders have condemned the shooting, calling it a “tragedy.”

“As we have done for decades, we marched and protested to highlight the urgent need to transform policing in America, to call for justice, transparency and accountability, and to demand that Black Lives Matter,” reads a statement issued on the group’s Facebook page. “Black activists have raised the call for an end to violence, not an escalation of it. Yesterday’s attack was the result of the actions of a lone gunman. To assign the actions of one person to an entire movement is dangerous and irresponsible. We continue our efforts to bring about a better world for all of us.”

Patrick isn’t alone in pinning the blame for the attack on BLM or those who speak out about racially biased policing. Bill Zedler, a Texas State Representative, tweeted that “clearly” BLM’s rhetoric encouraged the sniper. Representative Roger Williams (R-Austin) released a statement saying that “the spread of misinformation and constant instigation by prominent leaders, including our president, have contributed to the modern day hostility we are witnessing between the police and those they serve.”

Last night, before the killings in Dallas, President Obama gave a measured statement on the need to both address the reality of racial disparities in criminal justice and support the majority of the police who do “a really tough job really well.”

“There is no contradiction between us supporting law enforcement — making sure they’ve got the equipment they need, making sure that their collective bargaining rights are recognized, making sure that they’re adequately staffed, making sure that they are respected, making sure their families are supported — and also saying that there are problems across our criminal justice system, there are biases — some conscious and unconscious — that have to be rooted out,” he said.

Hours later, he gave a statement in the same room condemning the Dallas shootings as despicable.