'Race hustlers incited Ferguson violence'

Standoff at last night's protest rally.

Black conservative leaders say they're not surprised that Ferguson's boiling anger finally spilled over into violence.

And they're putting the blame for Wednesday night's shooting of two police officers squarely on President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder.

"It did not come as a surprise at all. And unless President Obama and Eric Holder go public and say they were wrong to say some of the things they've said, then it's only going to get worse," said the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, a talk-show host in Los Angeles who operates a school and a ministry focused on building character in young black men. "It's sad that they have created an angry, hostile environment, for angry people who are out of control already."

Peterson, who has an exclusive weekly column at WND, accused Obama and Holder of feeding black anger in Ferguson by coming out with the highly critical report and then making public comments about the report that further incited those who already feel like victims.

"Most are angry at white people, and to tell them that the police department or anyone else is against them because of their color is wrong because they're already angry. And when you're angry like that, it's easy to believe a lie," said Peterson, founder of Rebuilding the Family by Rebuilding the Man, or BOND.

Because no evidence could be found that would indicate Officer Darren Wilson acted inappropriately in shooting Michael Brown, who was unarmed but attacked Wilson and tried to get his gun, Peterson says Holder tried to paint the entire Ferguson police department as corrupt and guilty of racial discrimination. Even if everything in the report is true, which Peterson doesn't believe, he said the comments that accompanied the report poured gasoline on the already burning embers of Ferguson race relations.

"When Holder came out with the so-called results of the investigation, I said at the time I don’t believe it because Obama and Eric Holder are liars. They don’t tell the truth about anything," he said. "I wasn't surprised that they lied about it because that's what they do, and they want to keep the races divided and angry so they can redistribute power and wealth."

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Peterson believes the Justice Department's report on racial bias within the Ferguson Police Department was "a desperate attempt to save face."

"As I said in an interview with Neil Cavuto of Fox News, instead of Obama and Holder apologizing to the officer and his family and to the police department, I mean they couldn't find anything that indicated Officer Wilson shot Brown because of race, they just move to something else to stir up more bad feelings in Ferguson," Peterson told WND. "It's because Obama is all about the redistribution of power and wealth. That's what he wants to do, and they're going to take out the white police chief and the white officers and replace them with undeserving black people."

Watch Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson's entire interview with Fox News' Neil Cavuto below:

Activists like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have kept a low profile in the wake of the police shootings.

"I haven't heard anything yet. And I don’t expect to hear anything. These people are race hustlers, and they want to stir up a mess," Peterson told WND. "They don’t care about black people. They just want to stir up the pot because they get a lot of power and wealth because of it. So whenever it's white-on-black, this is what you get, and whenever it’s black-on-white, you hear nothing.

"If you notice the people who are getting shot or getting arrested by police officers, for the most part it's only the thugs, not the good black people in the community."

Instead of rebuking the "thugs" and setting the record straight, Peterson said Obama and Holder are "going after the cops."

"If black lives matter, they would be protesting and trying to stop black-on-black crime, and there are more black people killing black people than any white officer or white person," Peterson said.

He said he expects America's race relations to get worse before they get better "unless the people stand up and say no more, we're not going to allow our president or anyone else to incite violence against cops. We have to speak up and rally and say this has to end."

Fear of being branded a "racist" is what hold back many from speaking the truth to power, Peterson said.

"I would encourage white Americans to overcome their fear of being called a racist and start telling the truth to black Americans, to stand up and say they are not the problem. They are not racist, and I would encourage black Americans to get over their anger so that they can see that it's their black leadership that's using them and then join together with white Americans and demand that our government protect and serve all people in this country equally."

Bishop E.W. Jackson, a former practicing lawyer and now a minister in Norfolk, Virginia, also had harsh words for Holder, accusing him of engaging in professional misconduct as the nation's top attorney.

Jackson specifically condemned the following Holder comment:

"I understand that mistrust [of the police]. I am the attorney general of the United States. But I am also a black man."

Says Jackson, "Before the matter was fully investigated and decided by the grand jury, Holder was implying racial motivations on the part of Officer Wilson."

Jackson argues that prejudicial statements by any lawyer during an adjudication are inappropriate, but especially for the attorney general and chief prosecutor of the United States. He said the federal report on Ferguson shows the same bias, alleging Holder is at least partly responsible for the volatile atmosphere that is leading to attacks on police officers.

"He has expressed no empathy with Officer Darren Wilson, who has lost his job, had his name dragged through the mud and his life threatened," Jackson said. "Nor has he condemned the rioting, looting, violence and attacks on police. Indeed, he justified this criminal activity as the inevitable result of police misconduct and the lack of trust between the Ferguson Police Department and its black citizens."

"[I]t is not difficult to imagine," said Holder, "how a single tragic incident set off the city of Ferguson like a powder keg ...[it is] attributable to numerous constitutional violations by their law enforcement officials..."

Jackson believes Holder's comments likely violated the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct, Sections 3.6 and 3.8, which prohibit lawyers from making public statements which could prejudice a proceeding or heighten condemnation of an accused person. He said he will file a complaint Thursday against Holder with the Bar Counsel of Washington, D.C.

On his radio show Thursday, Peterson also addressed what be believes is a spiritual principle being violated that could have greater consequences than any legal or professional code of ethics.

"You become like what you hate," he said. "The blacks complain about slavery and Jim Crow laws. Obama and Eric Holder are creating the same type of environment by using the law against white people that Jim Crow did against blacks. And blacks are killing in the same way that the KKK did."

Peterson said Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., if he were still alive, would not be pleased by what is happening in Ferguson and the nation.

"They're becoming like what they hate, and that's not what Martin Luther King Jr. died for. That's not what he wanted," Peterson said. "He told black people to love and to build character and become one. He did not tell them to hate their enemy, but to overcome evil with good, and now they are shooting people in the streets."

See WND's extensive reporting on Ferguson:

'Race hustlers incited Ferguson violence'

Top cop says it's 'miracle' no officer shot earlier

Manhunt for 'sniper' who shot cops in Ferguson

Fox News Talker: Ferguson mob 'incited' by Holder

MSNBC host: 'What about disarming police?'

Ferguson mayor after cops shot