Rev. Al Sharpton took on the Christopher Lane shooting on Thursday’s edition of PoliticsNation.
Lane, a 22-year-old student, was shot dead while jogging Duncan, Okla., last Friday. His death attracted national attention when police officers revealed the teenage suspects said they shot Lane because they were “bored and didn’t have anything to do.”
Conservatives in the media latched onto the story this week, in part because some of the suspects are black and the victim is white. Some conservative pundits have compared it to the Trayvon Martin shooting, criticizing Sharpton and even President Obama for failing to address the matter.
Calling it a “tragic” story, Rev. Sharpton explained why he hasn’t covered or issued a statement on the shooting.
“I protest when I’m called in, and when there’s an injustice,” he said on the show. “The three were arrested. There was nothing to protest. The system worked there.”
“Not only did the police not say it was racial, but one of the three were white, but you have people feeling that I wouldn’t go in because it was three blacks that killed a white and no justice was done,” he added, taking on his critics in the media, many of whom have inaccurately reported that all three suspects were black, when one is white and one, bi-racial.
Watch Sharpton’s full thoughts below.
Morgan Whitaker