Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on July 8 that “it is more dangerous being black in America.”
His comments come after five officers were killed when sniper fire broke out in an ambush style attack in downtown Dallas at around 8:45 p.m. as hundreds of protesters had gathered to demonstrate against two fatal police shootings this week, those of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and of Philando Castile in suburban St. Paul, Minnesota.
Seven other officers and one civilian were injured in the sniper attack.
A suspect was killed by a robot with a bomb, which police sent into a parking garage. Dallas Police Department Chief David Brown said officers negotiated with the suspect and he “seemed lucid during this negotiation,” but he expressed a wish to kill white people, especially white officers. Three other alleged suspects are in custody.
Gingrich, who is a possible running mate for Donald Trump, told CNN’s Van Jones in a Facebook Live stream.
“It took me a long time, and a number of people talking to me through the years, to get a sense of this: If you are a normal white American, the truth is you don’t understand being black in America, and you instinctively under-estimate the level of discrimination and the level of additional risk,” said Gingrich as he discussed the shootings this week.
