Former New York Police Detective Harry Houck got into a shouting match Tuesday when he appeared on CNN with left-leaning commentators Charles Blow and Sally Kohn to talk about how criminals are treated according to race.
CNN's Brook Baldwin moderated the debate on her program, "Newsroom," where the discussion turned to why the black rioters in Baltimore were referred to as "thugs," but the white
bikers in Waco who were part of a shootout that left nine dead were not.
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Blow said the problem isn't just an issue with white people since President Barack Obama also called the Baltimore rioters "thugs." The word is seen by some as a racial epithet, while others say they are referring only to criminal behavior when they use the word.
"When black and brown people commit crimes, we note their race. And when white people do, we don’t note their race," Kohn said. "The majority of mass shootings are caused by white men, but we don’t say we have this epic problem of whiteness."
Houck said he had no problem referring to the bikers in Waco as "thugs," and said the term to him has nothing to do with race. He said the Waco and Baltimore incidences shouldn't be compared because they aren't really alike.
Blow blasted people on the right who blame black rioting on fatherless homes, saying that when white people were committing crimes such as lynchings against blacks, the perpetrators were usually married and brought their wives and children to watch what they were doing.
"So now we’re going back to the '40s and the '30s and the '20s and way before that," Houck said. "This is now. It’s 2015."
The debate eventually became so heated that Baldwin had to step in.