Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday accused Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton of "inflaming the situation" with the unrest in Milwaukee with her call for rebuilding trust between the police and the community.
"In Sherman Park and in Milwaukee, they want law enforcement to step up and protect them," Walker told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program.
"The people who live in the neighborhood want police, they want the police in Milwaukee and the sheriff's department to step up and protect them," Walker continued. "They didn't want the criminals who were doing those actions against those businesses to do that. And I think statements like that and the lack of leadership we have had from the president on this issue only inflame the situation."
In a speech in Scranton, Pennsylvania on Monday, Clinton called for the United States to "get back to the fundamental principle [and] everyone should have respect for the law and be respected by the law."
Rioting was sparked in Milwaukee after a black police officer shot and killed a black suspect fleeing from an officer. According to law enforcement officials, the suspect had a gun in his hand when he turned toward the police officer.
Walker, who dropped out of the presidential race early in the primary and now backs Trump, told the program the violence in Milwaukee became more quiet Monday night, thanks to the combined effort of the Wisconsin State Patrol, local police officers, and Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke's department.
"I hope that's a good sign for the Sherman Park neighborhood, where the overwhelming people are good people," Walker said. "My kids were born a few blocks from there, and they don't want the people there rioting any more than anyone else does."
However, he said there are criminals looking to target businesses, and they do not reflect a vast majority of the people in Milwaukee or the Sherman Park neighborhood.
Clarke, also on the early program, said the problem is with a "culturally dysfunctional underclass," and accused the "accomplished liberal mainstream media in Milwaukee and nationwide" of being afraid to ask those people for self-evaluation and self-criticisms over their behavior.
"Threatening people with firearms, taking property by force, things like that are some of the dysfunctional behaviors that we saw," Clarke said. "One of the first stores looted was a liquor store. That tells you about the character of this group."
The police shooting was "just an igniter," Clarke said, pointing out that Milwaukee is the sixth poorest city in the United States and has one of the worst school systems in the nation.
"[There is] massive unemployment and a failure to stay involved in the workforce," Clarke said. "You have a 32 percent black male unemployment rate in the city of Milwaukee. You have 70 percent of the kids born out of wedlock and no father around in their lives to shape their behavior of young men.
"When young men don't have fathers around to shape their behavior, oftentimes they grow up, not all the time, but they grow up to be unimaginable misfits that police have to deal with in the aggressive fashion like we saw Saturday."
Also, progressive urban policies ensure people are content to live a life that's dependent on the government, he said.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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