Was Biden’s MLK/George Floyd Comparison That Crazy?

CLAY: Two days ago was Martin Luther King Day, and there was and continues to be a lot of discussion about his legacy, and I wanted to make sure that we played this clip of Joe Biden several months ago talking about how the death of George Floyd was more significant in its impact than the death of Martin Luther King Jr. Listen to this.

BIDEN: Even Dr. King’s assassination did not have the worldwide impact that George Floyd’s death did.

CLAY: Which is crazy to say, Buck, and I think it’s a sign of the lunacy in the world in which we live. But terms what happened in April of 1968 and what the assassination of Martin Luther King ended up occurring, versus what happened with George Floyd’s death, the amount of change and the amount of craziness that ensued from George Floyd’s death, I’m not sure that Biden is wrong, right? It’s on its face a crazy analogy to make.

But in terms of the actual world spinning out of control, it’s wild that you can even make this analogy. You know what I’m saying? The impact of Martin Luther King’s life is far more significant than the impact of George Floyd’s life. But the way in which they actually died and the immediate response to that death, I think what he’s trying to say is a sign of the lunacy and how much things have spiraled out of control that George Floyd’s death was used as a more significant marker than Martin Luther King Jr.’s death.

BUCK: Well, this is part of the move that you’ve seen with social media now, which creates instantaneous virtual signaling opportunities for people, including those who are nowhere near the George Floyd incident, don’t live not even Minnesota or America but live overseas. But anti-racism has become a sort of global religion for a lot of people as well.

It’s a bit like being a climate change person who you just always profess how anti-racist you are. You don’t have to do anything, right? You’re just profess, “Oh, my gosh. I oppose racism so much” on Facebook or whatever, and your friends all think you’re a good person. You don’t actually have to take any action or take an unpopular stance. You’re doing quite the opposite.

So there was this immediate outcry afterwards but also there was — there is, I should say, and the whole Black Lives Matter movement is premised on — a lie. And the lie is that there’s the systemic murdering of black men in America by law enforcement without consequence, and this is happening regularly, routinely and is somehow supported in the broader society.

That is a vicious and destructive lie, but it’s a very emotionally highly resonating one. So when people hear this, it has an impact on them. And that’s how you have people in the U.K. and Germany and all this, they were marching in favor of George Floyd’s, you know, the movement, I should say.

CLAY: Which we don’t even know, Buck. And it’s like nobody even has this discussion. We still have yet to prove that there was direct racial animus involved in anything surrounding what happened to George Floyd, whereas Martin Luther King was killed by James Earl Ray, an avowed racist, because he was black and of the political beliefs that he had embraced, which is equality in the United States. We still don’t know what difference there would have been in the behavior of Chauvin if it had been an Asian person or Hispanic person or another white person instead of being George Floyd, right? And nobody even is willing to have that discussion.