Russell Simmons, Bill O’Reilly Clash on Police vs. Black Crime

Russell Simmons appeared on Bill O’Reilly’s FOX News program The O’Reilly Factor to speak about the recent issues taking over the national landscape of late. The two clashed over the issues plaguing police departments and African-American communities.

O’Reilly, the blathering conservative talk show host, directed the conversation toward the insistence that “the bigger issue” is “black crime.”

Simmons, ex-music mogul and sometimes-activist, countered by blaming the crime that disrupts the black community on the uneven arrest and convictions rate due, in part, to unfair application of drug laws over the years.

O’Reilly called Simmons out for not protesting loudly enough, and in person, against the violence in Chicago. “You haven’t done it!” he exclaimed, as Simmons attempted to defend his record.

Simmons called the core of the problem the “prison industrial complex.” O’Reilly said he was wrong, stating that the crime rate is driven by the disillusion of the black family, and drug gangs who “prey upon their own.”

Simmons countered. “The violence in the black community is driven by non-violent drug offenders who are locked up, educated in criminal behavior and dumped back in the hood.”

Russell Simmons, as well as Jay Z, recently spoke with New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo to urge justice reforms, while many hip hop-oriented organizations on the ground continue to organize protests, recruit members and peacefully protest the recent decisions by grand juries in Ferguson, Missouri and Staten Island, New York.

Russell Simmons heads the website GlobalGrind.com, which, while taking up important issues of social injustice, has had issues with how their information is presented to the public.