Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich tells Newsmax TV that he was not sure whether Black Lives Matter should be designated as a terrorist organization, but that openly discussing racism is critical to solving the problem in America.
"Clearly, a lot of people who are involved in Black Lives Matter are just citizens who are trying to say to the country how worried they are, because that's the other story," Gingrich, 73, told "Newsmax Prime" host J.D. Hayworth in an exclusive interview from Paris.
"Just before the shootings of the Dallas policemen, you had two examples of … innocent people being killed by the police."
Gingrich, who is being considered as a vice presidential running mate by presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, was referring to the police-involved deaths last week of Alton Sterling, 37, in Baton Rouge, La., and Philando Castile, 32, near St. Paul, Minn.
He also talked with Hayworth after a sniper — in retaliation for those killings — gunned down five Dallas police officers and injured seven others last Friday after a peaceful rally in the city's downtown.
"Both problems have to be addressed," Gingrich told Hayworth. "It's not one or the other."
Weighing in on the shootings of the two African-American men last week, Gingrich said on
Facebook Live that "normal, white" Americans do not understand the "level of discrimination" and other risks that blacks face.
He explained that further with Hayworth, describing it as a "very simple test."
"I know Harvard, Yale, Princeton graduates making $500,000 a year who are black, who tell their children: 'If you get involved in any kind of situation involving the police, be very careful. Do not in any way stand up to them. Do not in any way antagonize them — because you are at risk.'
"I don't know of any white parents who say that," Gingrich said, "because it wouldn't even occur to us that it’s a threat."
He also cited the experiences of former Republican Rep. J.C. Watts, who told of being stopped in his Oklahoma district by sheriff's deputies because of the car he was driving.
Gingrich said Watts told him that he responded to the officer by saying, "'Not only am I your congressman, I was also an All-American quarterback for Oklahoma — and you're just stupid.'
"But his point was that there is a clear difference — still in America, at a psychological-cultural level — between being black and being white, or Asian or Latino."
Effectively addressing racial issues in the United States requires candid conversations among all people, he said.
"All of us conservatives say, 'If you’re going to take on terrorism, you have to be willing to talk about radical Islam,'" Gingrich said. "Well, if you’re going to solve the problem of racism in America, you have to have the guts to talk about the racism in America."
See more of Hayworth's exclusive interview with Gingrich on Monday at 8 and 11 p.m. ET only on "Newsmax Prime."
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