Donald Trump Repeats False Information About The Origins of Black Lives Matter

Donald Trump’s blatant racism is no longer surprising, especially after his bizarre “Axios on HBO” interview, where he made snide remarks about the late Civil Rights activist, John Lewis, and claimed that no one had done more for the black community than him. Now, he is setting his sights on the Black Lives Matter movement, once again repeating the false claim that Black Lives Matter was formed by a group of marchers chanting that police officers should “fry like bacon.”

In a new interview with Fox & Friends, Trump called athletes who kneel, in support of BLM-during the singing of the National Anthem, “disgraceful” and also doubled down on his claim that he’s done more for Black Americans than almost anyone. However, he did make mention that Abraham Lincoln helped a lot too.

“Black Lives Matter ― where did it start?” Trump said during the interview. “Marching down streets screaming ‘Pigs in a blanket, fry ‘em like bacon.’ They were talking about policemen.”

“So all of a sudden, this has taken on this air of great respectability. Well, how does it start there? It’s a Marxist group. It’s a Marxist group that is not looking for good things for our country,” he continued.

Trump and his allies, including White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, have been pushing the falsehood story for weeks now, in a “reaching” attempt to make the organization look bad.

The chant Trump cites is from a 2015 video of a BLM protest in St. Paul, Minnesota, the group was not an official chapter of the national organization, according to CNN. Rashad Turner, a founder of the Minnesota group, told CNN that the chant was not intended to provoke violence and was only used one time.

Black Lives Matter, a massive movement against police brutality and racial injustice, was formed two years prior to the 2015 video, with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. Three Black activists created it in response to George Zimmerman, who shot and killed an unarmed Trayvon Martin. The group has now become a global network and has established principles for other official chapters in an effort to end state-sanctioned violence and racism.

According to the website, the group’s principles include acknowledging, respecting, and celebrating differences and commonalities, as well as being “unapologetically Black in our positioning.” A foundation significantly different than what Trump and his friends suggest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOWHlKM1U6E