BLM leader robbed by black mugger – calls for more cops

Jerry Ford Jr., a Black Lives Matter leader in Houston, Texas, wants more cops after he was robbed at gunpoint (Photo: Screenshot/KTRK-TV 13)

A Houston leader of the Black Lives Matter movement is calling for more cops in his neighborhood after he was robbed at gunpoint Wednesday by a black assailant.

Jerry Ford Jr., a University of Houston graduate student, initially thought the man robbing him outside his apartment was another student.

"The guy was standing right here just seemed like he was hanging out," Ford told Houston's KTRK-TV 13. "I told him wassup. He asked me did I have a key to get in. I told him yeah I'm about to go upstairs."

Ford, who lives only blocks from the university campus, told the station the man pulled a gun on him.

"I reach in right here to open the door, and I turn back around and he has the gun right there in my face," he said.

The armed man stole Ford's wallet and his phone and ran away. Another student told the station there have been other robberies in the area. And in August, there were dozens of car break-ins in local apartments. KTRK-TV 13 reported the apartments are home to mostly University of Houston students, "but the university says UH Police do not patrol them."

However, Ford is demanding a larger police presence in the area.

"It's becoming a pattern. I hope they would take a bigger stance and put more security over here because you have a lot of people walking back and forth to class," Ford said.

Ford's Facebook page includes a photo of him standing at a set of microphones beside what appears to be a member of the New Black Panther Party.

In the photo posted Aug. 2, a black crowd is holding fists in the air, and one person displays a sign that says, "We want justice for Alva Braziel!" Braziel was an armed black man who was fatally shot by police, who say he pointed his weapon at them.

Jerry Ford Jr. at microphones in a photo posted on his public Facebook page. In his Aug. 2 post, he wrote, "If you don't stand for something you will fall for anything"

A June 26 post by Ford stated, "Blackness cannot be limited to your abstract understanding of consciousness."

In an earlier interview with Fox 26 commenting on a "White Lives Matter" protest, Ford said:

"I think it's intriguing when you hear White Lives, their culture, is being under attack. I think many black people in this country, many black lives would say, well, our culture was taken away from us when we was brung to this country when we talk about slavery.

"But when I hear 'White Lives Matter,' the first thing that comes to my mind is, what about blue lives? What about the black and brown police officers who come to your safety every day? What about red lives, the firefighters? Black and brown firefighters who come to the safety of people no matter what your color of skin is? So I think right now it's important, especially when you talk about the Black Lives Matter, just everybody, that we are able to right now articulate a vision that is conducive to attacking some of these injustices that we're seeing that were black and brown individuals in our criminal justice system, our education system. Because right now, look at the City of Houston. We have a mayor, a black mayor who is doing a wonderful job. We have a black president.

"So, you know, I'm confused. I think a lot of people are confused of, why do we have to have White Lives Matter? Because I come back thinking, well what about all lives matter?"

In yet another Facebook post, this time on May 30, Ford appeared to compare the predicament of Harambe, the gorilla who was shot at the Cincinnati Zoo, to the plight of descendants of slaves: