Amid protests across the country following the decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson, the “Hot Topics” segment on Wednesday morning’s “The View’s” also became highly charged.
Guest co-host Laverne Cox (“Orange is the New Black”) called the death of Michael Brown and the incidents occurring in Ferguson, Mo. “deeply painful,” while Nicolle Wallace challenged whether or not Brown should be viewed as an innocent victim.
“We have yet again another young, black person killed, in the street, without accountability,” said Cox. Wilson, who shot and killed Brown on Aug. 9, sat down with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos for his first public interview which aired on Tuesday. Cox took issue with much of what Wilson said.
“Watching the interview, it was bizarre for me because we understand that a lot of his account of what happened doesn’t match up with the physical evidence that we do have,” Cox said. “There didn’t seem to be any sense of humanity in him that a person has been lost. I was looking for signs. Even if you feel like the killing is justified, where is the sense that a life has been lost? That a family has lost their child.”
Co-host Rosie Perez agreed that justice had not and will not be served.
“There should have been an indictment so that the people and Michael Brown’s family and Officer Wilson could have had their day in court,” Perez said.
Nicolle Wallace however held steady on her belief that Wilson did only what, “he was trained to do.”
“I’m scared that in the last 48 hours the conversation has grown intolerant of anyone like me willing to see Darren Wilson as a human being,” Wallace said.
“There’s no evidence that he saw Mike Brown as a human being,” Cox interjected.
Wallace then argued that Brown being painted as an innocent victim was inaccurate, saying: “This is not Trayvon Martin. He was not walking through the neighborhood with Skittles in his pocket. He was not jumped by a thug. George Zimmerman was a thug who jumped Trayvon Martin. This was a kid who ended up in an altercation with police. He did not deserve to die, I am not saying that, but their fates will be interconnected forever.”
Rosie O’Donnell, who previously stated, “black boys are like endangered species in America,” was absent from Wednesday morning’s show.
“The crappiest thing about all of this is the kid is still dead,” Whoopi Goldberg said, agreeing with Cox that Wilson should have shown much more compassion during his interview.
Watch the video from “The View” here.
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