Sean Hannity Battles Baltimore Activist: ‘Is This The Type Of Protest You Want To Be A Part Of?’


Raging public debate over rioting in Baltimore spilled over on to Sean Hannity‘s pundit program Monday evening when he came to heads with a local activist defending the violence taking over the Maryland city.

Sean cut directly to the violence that has ravaged Baltimore during the riots. Hannity’s initial question to Adam J. Jackson, CEO of grassroots think-tank group Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, blankly asked if the guest was sure that he wanted to be affiliated with what was unfolding in Baltimore.

“Mr. Jackson, you’re watching what’s going on here. You have a city that is burning; you’ve got police officers being attacked; you’ve got looting going on in the city of Baltimore. Is this the type of protest you want to be a part of?”

In response, Adam argued to Sean that the issue was not what was currently happening in Baltimore, but a systemic problem with discrimination and oppression in the Baltimore Police Department and city representation.

“First and foremost, I’m not going to talk about the violence that people are talking about. This is a response to the violence of the Baltimore City Police Department. People talking about fires burning in Baltimore, there’s been fires burning of mass incarceration, racist policing practices, so this is an outgrowth of that.”

Hannity, however, seemed unswayed by Adam’s statements. Sean countered that both Baltimore’s police department and its political institutions are minority-majority systems.

“Isn’t this a minority-run city in terms of its politics?… You said racism but this is a majority minority police department and you’re calling the black officers in Baltimore racist?”

Jackson argued back to Hannity that the issue is not individually racist people, but “laws and public policy” that favor the elite. Neither Democrats nor Republicans, he told Sean, have adequately addressed the issues facing black people in the United States. That injustice, Adam said, is the root of the turmoil currently facing the city — and the real issue at play in the riots.

“We shouldn’t be moralizing people’s frustration and pain. What we should be moralizing is the systemic violence that has been put on people in Baltimore… You’re not concerned about the welfare of black people; you’re concerned about property destruction.”

Hannity declined to concede, and the two continued to talk over one another until the end of the segment. One of the last things Jackson got out was a clear jab at Sean’s coverage during the post-9/11 era, a time when Adam said Hannity himself had favored violence.

“I do not think that violence is an effective strategy for justice, but I will not moralize on black people. People like you Sean, when 9/11 happened, the United States government invaded Iraq and Afghanistan.”

What do you think of Sean Hannity’s coverage of the Baltimore riots?

[Image via Paul Zimmerman/Getty Images]

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