Larry Elder says police aren’t more likely to use violence on Black people. That’s false
Conservative talk radio host Larry Elder is currently the leading candidate to replace California Gov. Gavin Newsom in the Sept. 14 recall election. With 18% of support among likely voters, Elder has outraised his GOP competitors, collecting nearly $4.5 million in July. Newsom, by comparison, has raised at least $45 million to fight the recall, an election which is costing California taxpayers a whopping $276 million and counting.
During the hour-long interview on Aug. 3 between Elder and McClatchy’s California opinion teams, the ultra-conservative candidate made numerous false statements.
At various points in the interview, Elder veered into disinformation, such as when he told our board that he agreed that President Joe Biden was elected fair and square, and then tweeted something completely different one week later.
Elder made several easily debunkable claims in his interview: He said President Barack Obama never attended public school (Obama attended a state elementary school in Indonesia); he said the California Environmental Quality Act was waived during construction of a stadium for the Sacramento Kings (the Legislature amended CEQA to expedite construction); he said Los Angeles and San Francisco’s district attorneys were appointed by Newsom (both Chesa Boudin and George Gascón were elected to their positions) and he said nearly 70% of Black children are “brought into the world without a father married to the mother” (according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data, 54.2% of Black children had either two unmarried parents or a single parent).
Elder’s most egregious claims, however, ranged from the patently false to dangerous alternative facts.
Claim: “I don’t believe that the police are disposed to using deadly force against Black people ... this business about the police engaging in systemic racism is false. It’s a lie.”
Reality check: While there is skepticism that systemic racism exists within the criminal justice system among the right, it’s indisputable that Black Americans are arrested and subject to police violence at strikingly disproportionate rates, relative to the size of the population and percent of crimes committed. A 2020 report from the California Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board found that Black people were stopped by law enforcement at a rate 2.5 times higher than whites. The report also found that Black people were much more likely to be stopped for “reasonable suspicion” and three times more likely than any other group to be searched.
Black Americans are significantly more likely than white Americans to be pulled over by police; ticketed by police; arrested by police; subject to police use-of-force and killed by police, according to 45 different studies compiled by the Washington Post and published by numerous organizations including the ACLU, The New York Times, the National Academy of Sciences and even the U.S. Justice Department.
Claim: “The Senate report found zero evidence that the Russians changed a single vote tally.”
Reality check: This statement by Elder is simplistic and is either purposely or haplessly narrow so as to avoid inconvenient facts that overwhelming confirm the threats that Russian hackers posed to our election systems in the 2016 presidential election won by Donald Trump.
While votes may not have been changed in voting machines, we do know that the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation into Russian interference found that Russia was able to target election systems in all 50 states.
The Senate committee determined that the goals of Russia’s campaign were to undermine American faith in democracy, damage Hillary Clinton’s campaign, and increase Trump’s chances of winning the election. To dismiss that threat because your favored candidate won an election marked by Russian interference, according to U.S intelligence agencies, indicates a candidate willing to put the interests of his political party above the country.
Claim: “Donald Trump also said I want you to go peacefully and make your voices heard.”
Reality check: During his Save America Rally speech on Jan. 6, Trump told the crowd that he knew they would be “marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.” Elder did not mention, however, that Trump incited the crowd by telling them to “stop the steal” — “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
Trump’s second impeachment, on Jan. 13, charged the former president with “high crimes and misdemeanors” and “engaging in insurrection or rebellion against the United States.”
“There is no question — none — that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said at the time. “The leader of the free world cannot spend weeks thundering that shadowy forces are stealing our country and then feign surprise when people believe him and do reckless things.”
Five people died in the Capitol riot. Four D.C. area police officers who responded to the insurrection have subsequently committed suicide.
Claim: “(Newsom) has overseen the release of some 20,000 convicted felons, many of whom are violent offenders during COVID. And the stats show that the majority of them are likely to re-offend.”
Reality check: In the last year, 21,000 inmates left state prisons — but about half of that population is temporarily being held in county jails. Contrary to what Elder claimed, California actually sped up the release of 3,500 inmates — not 20,000 — to reduce crowding and contain the spread of COVID-19, according to the Los Angeles Times. The 3,500 who were released early were serving prison terms for nonviolent crimes and left prison only 60 days or fewer before their terms were set to expire.
According to data from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, of the 682 life-term inmates granted parole in the fiscal year 2014-15, only 16 offenders — 2.3% — were reconvicted in the subsequent three years.
The editorial boards of The Sacramento Bee, Fresno Bee, Modesto Bee, and San Luis Obispo Tribune encourage voters to reject the recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom and remember to complete the entire ballot.
This story was originally published August 12, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Larry Elder says police aren’t more likely to use violence on Black people. That’s false."