An organizer for the Black Lives Matter movement suggested Thursday on CNN that the problem of black-on-black crime is a “myth,” saying the activist movement is focusing on resolving broader issues of systemic violence.

During a discussion about a Facebook video posted by former NFL great Ray Lewis that questions the focus of the Black Lives Matter movement, Aaron Goggans dismissed the notion of black-on-black crime.

“It’s important to talk about the myth of black-on-black crime. It’s just that — a myth,” Mr. Goggans, a Black Lives Matter organizer in Washington, D.C., told CNN’s Carol Costello.

When pressed on his statement, Mr. Goggans backtracked and admitted that black-on-black crime does exist, and insisted that the movement is focused on resolving that issue.

“I’m saying that inter-community crime happens in all communities across the country and it is a problem that the movement of Black Lives Matter is focusing on,” he said.

“The movement is also focusing on state-sanctioned violence, which is a different thing,” Mr. Goggans continued. “It’s not just a few white cops killing a few unarmed black men. It’s actually the state systematically creating systems that are killing black people, both black women, black children, black men, black queer, black trans and black gender-nonconforming folks, and that’s the issue that I think Ray Lewis didn’t talk about in his video.”

In the video, posted Saturday to Facebook, Mr. Lewis emotionally criticizes the Black Lives Matter movement for ignoring black-on-black crime, citing a dramatic increase in black-on-black killings in Chicago.

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