by David Clarke
“You don’t believe that for one minute, do you?” I asked. I knew his game. CNN has implicitly endorsed the Black LIES Matter movement by framing the organization as sensitive to black matters, and I wasn’t going to let them flaunt their sensitivity in front of me. I wasn’t going to let them pander.
Lemon was at a loss for words—a first. “Uh, that’s what they said to me,” he managed to say after a few seconds of dead air. “Yeah, I believe them.”
“Any protests over the deaths of these cops today in Baton Rouge?” I asked. I was trying to tell Lemon he didn’t want to get into the ring with me.
“I don’t know.”
“Any riots or protests over the officers in Dallas, Texas?”
“What are you asking?”
“It’s a pretty simple question,” I said. “My message has been clear from day one, two years ago. This anticop sentiment from this hateful ideology called Black Lives Matter has fueled this rage against the American police officer. I predicted this two years ago.”
“Okay, Sheriff. With all due respect,” he said (you know it’s never good when a sentence begins with that phrase), “do you know that this was because of that? As a law enforcement officer?”
“I’ve been watching this for two years. I predicted this,” I said. “This antipolice rhetoric sweeping the country has turned out some hateful things inside of people that are now playing themselves out on the American police officer. I want to know, with all of the black-on-black violence in the United States of America … By the way, when the tragedies happened in Louisiana and Minnesota, do you know that twenty-one black people were murdered across the United States? Was there any reporting on that?”
“Let’s keep the volume down,” he said to me as if he was my preschool teacher.
“I’m looking at three dead cops this week and five last week,” I said, incredulous. “You’re trying to tell me to keep it down?”
At one, point, exasperated, Lemon said, “I feel like we’re having two different conversations.” I think that may have been the only accurate thing he uttered during our very awkward nine-minute interview. We have one conversation that the media are hosting, and the other that America knows to be true. “I’m trying to keep it civil,” Lemon said. “I’m sure the message you want to convey to people at home is one of civility.”
He went on to argue that black-on-black violence was a “separate topic” that didn’t pertain to the Black LIES Matter shootings. In other words, he wanted to push the narrative that Black Lives Matter is about racial equality, and I wanted to show him that it’s an antipolice hate group based on the lie of police brutality. I wasn’t backing down.
“Don, I wish you had that message of civility,” I said. But when I began to elaborate on my point—that Black LIES Matter is a hate group—he went to a commercial break.
That must’ve given him time to think because after the commercial break, he tried to pull one over on me. “Sheriff Clarke, we can’t sit here and talk over each other. If you think that I don’t care about these eight dead cops, then you can leave right now.”
I knew that trick. Lemon wanted me to rip off the microphone, storm off the set, and make a big scene. I thought, I’m too smart for that. I’m not going anywhere. You can go to another commercial break, but I’m not going anywhere. Had I fallen for his suggestion, the headlines would’ve been “Sheriff Clarke storms off CNN.” That’s why I stuck around until the end.
When the segment was finally over, I walked off the set and received the stony glare of the producer. If looks could kill, I would’ve been a dead man.
My friend Craig and my wife, Julie, were at the studio with me, but they couldn’t hear the words that were being said. Don and I were in an enclosed booth behind glass, so they had only watched the screens, none of which had volume.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said to Julie and Craig.
“How did it go?” Julie asked, looking concerned.
“What was going on in there?” Craig said. “You got pretty animated.”
“Let’s just hope that thing goes viral,” I said.
Sure enough, it did. Millions of people saw the video on the Internet, and it turned out that everyone was happy I didn’t let CNN get away with pandering to blacks. Remember how Barack Obama said that America needs to have a conversation about race? Well, no one really wants that conversation. It’s hard, it’s uncomfortable, and it gets people riled up. They don’t want to have a dialogue. They want people like me to sit down and shut up.
Don Lemon found out that I, for one, am not going to play by their rules. That’s why Trump wanted me to speak at the convention, and I was more motivated and honored than ever to stand before an enormous national audience and speak truth about the importance of supporting first responders and making America safe again.
Every convention speaker gets time with a speaking coach. I thought they might help write the speech for me, but the Trump people wanted this to be 100 percent me. They gave me the strict parameters of a five-minute speech, but I got it down only to about eight. Though I’d planned on shortening it, I was so busy I never got around to editing it. Plus, it was the right length. I’d pared it down to precisely what I wanted to say.
When I met with my speech coach and he heard my rehearsal, he said, “You’re a natural. You’re going to knock this out of the park.” He did give me two pieces of great advice: “Number one, walk to the podium as if you have something important to say and you can’t wait to say it. Number two, don’t try to speak over the applause. It doesn’t work, slows the momentum, and sounds stilted.”
And so, when the moment arrived, I strode out to the podium with a purpose. “Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to make something very clear,” I said. “Blue Lives Matter in America!” The crowd went nuts. Later I realized that this was the loudest and longest applause that any speaker had received that week. I was profoundly sobered by this opportunity. Many VIPs were at the convention, but the Trump campaign gave me, the Milwaukee County sheriff, a prime-time slot. Since I was told not to speak over the applause, the cheering of the crowd gave me time to collect myself. I make speeches all the time, but this was the biggest moment of my life. Twenty thousand people were in the arena, but millions were watching from home. As the crowd cheered, I took a breath.
I stand before you tonight with a heavy heart as the law enforcement community prepares to bury three of Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s, finest. But there is some good news out of Baltimore, Maryland, as Lt. Brian Rice was acquitted on all charges, and the malicious prosecution of activist State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby.
The crowd booed when I mentioned Mosby’s name, so I paused again.
I want to talk to you about something important, indeed, a concept that five law enforcement officers were murdered and nine more were wounded for, earlier this month, and for which three more were murdered two days ago in Baton Rouge, Louisiana: And that is the importance of making America safe again. You see, I believe that this noble mission is not just a requirement, but a prerequisite for achieving this campaign’s goal of making America great again. We simply cannot be great if we do not feel safe in our homes, on our streets, and in our schools.
When I do speeches or interviews on television, I hope to find “the zone.” When I get into that zone, I’m pretty oblivious to a lot of this.
Afterward, people came up to me and said, “That was the best speech!”
I had to take their word for it. I didn’t remember saying any of it. The words were just coming out—coherent and powerful—but I didn’t hear myself delivering it. It was almost as if I didn’t get to experience my RNC speech until I saw it on television later. It was a great privilege to be able to speak at the RNC. But it was an even bigger honor to show respect and support to my fellow officers around the country, to open America’s eyes to the motives and hate behind Black LIES Matter.
9
The Second Amendment Isn’t Just for White People
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br /> LET ME SHARE A SECRET.
I’ve had the privilege of going around this nation and speaking to God-fearing Americans. I’ve had the honor of meeting some of you, hearing your stories, and sharing at least a part of your lives. Frequently, people ask the same question: “Why do I salute the audience when I speak?”
I’m old school. In our representative democracy, elected officials are not sovereign. You the people are sovereign. In keeping with military custom, it is incumbent on the subordinate officer to salute and render that salute first to the superior officer. I consider myself the subordinate officer. That’s why I salute my audience because they’re in charge, not the political class. This is American Government 101, but this attitude is far too rare in modern society.
I think that’s why people are surprised when they see me salute at the beginning of my speeches about race, police, crime, the Constitution, rule of law, and the Second Amendment. They are used to elected officials condescending to them, which is exactly the opposite way America is supposed to work. I salute to honor them and to remind them of the proper order of things. Guess what? I’ve learned a few things as well. After all of my speeches in so many places across this nation, no topic causes as much emotion, passion, or vilification as the subject of guns.
Backlash Against My PSAs
Why do academia, the liberal media, and liberals in the political establishment treat the Second Amendment like the illegitimate child of the Bill of Rights? I learned the answer to this question the hard way when I made a series of public service announcements in 2013.
“I’m Sheriff David Clarke, and I want to talk to you about something personal … your safety,” I said into the recorder in my office. I had no idea I was about to strike a chord that would reverberate through the culture and cause NPR to describe my baritone voice as “ominous.” It was January, and the budget for my office had been cut drastically. It was time to get real with the residents of Milwaukee County. I began the first announcement with these words:
Your safety is no longer a spectator sport; I need you in the game, but are you ready? With officers laid off and furloughed, simply calling 911 and waiting is no longer your best option. You can beg for mercy from a violent criminal, hide under the bed, or you can fight back; but are you prepared? Consider taking a certified safety course in handling a firearm so you can defend yourself until we get there. You have a duty to protect yourself and your family. We’re partners now. Can I count on you?
My second ad had a similar theme:
This is Sheriff David Clarke. Violent crime went up nearly 10 percent in Milwaukee. Are you the next victim? You don’t have to be! But that’s your call. Armed criminals are being put back on the street by a soft-on-crime court system even before the ink dries on police reports. Are you prepared to handle a life-or-death threat? Wisconsin’s Personal Protection Act now gives you the same advantage that I have. Now it’s the crook who has to wonder what you might do. It can be a great equalizer … but you always have to think survival … Remember, it’s you and me now.
And the third was about refusing to be victimized, and it also struck a chord that liberals hated:
I’m Sheriff Clarke. To avoid being a victim of crime you don’t have to be the toughest or fastest person on the block. Your age and gender don’t matter either. Here’s what’s important … attention to your surroundings is critical … recognize the threat … know who’s around you when walking down the street, getting into your car, or going into your home. And if you smell trouble? Trust your instincts … be decisive … use the element of surprise against your attacker, and most importantly, be ruthless in your response. Are you ready?
These ads sparked much conversation across Milwaukee and beyond to the rest of the nation. Mayor Tom Barrett said, “Apparently Sheriff David Clark [sic] is auditioning for the next Dirty Harry movie.” County Executive Chris Abele said, “I think it’s irresponsible, and it doesn’t help public safety to tell the public there’s some kind of imminent danger that they need to go buy guns. Essentially, you’ve got a [public service announcement] that’s recommending people need to go buy guns because they can’t rely on the response they’ll get from 911. I’m here to tell you, we have phenomenal police departments.” Jeri Bonavia, of the nonprofit Wisconsin Anti-violence Effort, said, “If he does not feel he is capable of doing this [protecting Milwaukee citizens], and he’s not qualified to take on this role of public safety, he should resign and he should do it today. To issue a blanket statement that people should be out there, arming up, and taking care of safety matters that really law enforcement officials are trained to do, is just irresponsible.”1
In other words, because of my little public service announcements, I was accused of vigilantism, fear mongering, misinformation, and incompetence. (But I have to point out to Mayor Barrett that the Dirty Harry movies were about Inspector Harry Callahan of the San Francisco Police Department using excessive force to combat bad guys, not about promoting true self-defense. Plus, I think the likelihood of you actually having seen even one Dirty Harry movie is about as strong as you having read the Constitution.) The real reason the radio ad was controversial was that people have so many misconceptions about police, guns, history, and even minorities.
Let me explain this common misconception about police: we cannot protect you, at least not all of you all of the time. In 2005, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that police do not have a constitutional obligation to protect someone, no matter what the mottos say on the police car doors.2 In a country with 325 million people, citizens can never abdicate responsibility for their own family’s personal safety to anyone else—even the police.3 Why?
Criminologist and professor Don B. Kates Jr. explained the numbers:
Even if all 500,000 American police officers were assigned to patrol, they could not protect 240 million citizens from upwards of 10 million criminals who enjoy the luxury of deciding when and where to strike. But we have nothing like 500,000 patrol officers; to determine how many police are actually available for any one shift, we must divide the 500,000 by four (three shifts per day, plus officers who have days off, are on sick leave, etc.). The resulting number must be cut in half to account for officers assigned to investigations, juvenile, records, laboratory, traffic, etc., rather than patrol.4
In other words, there simply are not enough of us to protect all of you. Once the wolf is at the door, once the intruder is inside your home, once you’re on the street and someone sticks a gun in your face to take your car or your wallet, you don’t have the option of calling 911.
You’ve heard the old saying: when seconds count, the police are minutes away. That’s not a slam on police. You don’t want to live under martial law where cops are on every corner. People, it’s called “self-defense” for a reason. You must take charge of yourself. One reason why self-defense has gone out of fashion is that we have forgotten how much of history—even the Bible—emphasizes its importance.
Historical Take on Self-Defense
The founders of our country knew this. In his first address to both houses of Congress, George Washington said, “A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined; to which end a uniform and well-digested plan is requisite; and their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories as tend to render them independent of others for essential, particularly military, supplies.” In the 1788 debates of the Massachusetts Convention, Samuel Adams said that the Constitution should never be interpreted “to authorize Congress to … prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms.”5
Thomas Jefferson advised, “Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks.”6 Even more to the point, he wrote, “The constitutions of most of our States [and of the United States] assert, that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves, in all cases to which they think themselves competent …; that it is their right and duty to be at
all times armed.”7
Did you catch that? It’s your right and your duty. When I uttered in my radio ad that “you have a duty to protect yourself and your family,” Anti-Gun-Idiots (AGIs) went nuts. But it’s hardly a radical statement. It’s what Americans have believed all along. Humanity has believed this for thousands of years. Even a cursory reading of the Bible shows the necessity of preserving life—of yourself and others. For example, in 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (KJV), the author wrote, “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”
This is why I get up every day committed to an exercise regimen. But not only are we to be physically healthy; we are to protect those who are more vulnerable. The Bible speaks to that throughout, but here are two verses that jump out at me.
Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. (Psalm 82:4 NIV)
Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. (Proverbs 24:11 NKJV)
And the Bible even stipulates we have a moral obligation to warn people of possible danger:
If the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman’s hand. (Ezekiel 33:6 NASB)
Though it’s our obligation to warn of the attack, people have to figure out their own response. Later, the Scriptures explain that if people don’t heed the watchman’s warnings, that’s on them. Furthermore, we need to maintain and control our property to make sure our friends and family are safe from injury. Exodus 21:29 warns that if a man is so careless that his bull kills someone, the owner should be put to death. Deuteronomy 22:8 tells people to make sure they build their homes in such a way to prevent anyone from falling off the roof.