Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) says his criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement does not mean he is indifferent to black suffering.

“Don’t tell me I don’t care about black lives,” he said Monday on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends.” “I had an uncle who died in the line of duty. I had uncles who went out every night and tried to protect black people and white people and all people.

{mosads}“A lot of the protection of this city of New York is for black people because 70 percent of the murders in New York City are black. So it has to be that way. I believe I saved a lot more black lives than Black Lives Matter.”

Giuliani also said he is not backing down from his charge that “black lives matter” is a fundamentally racist phrase.

“It is inherently racist because No. 1, it divides us,” he said. “All lives matter. All lives matter — black lives, white lives, all lives.

“No. 2, the Black Lives Matter never protests when every 14 hours someone is killed in Chicago, probably 70–80 percent of the time a black person. Where are they then? Where are they when the young black child is killed?”

Giuliani on Sunday said the phrase “Black Lives Matter” is both “anti-American” and “inherently racist.”

National debate is raging over the role of the Black Lives Matter movement following the fatal shooting of two African-American men by police in separate incidents last week.