Quote of note:
As someone who is acquainted with the inflammatory media coverage of civil disturbances involving blacks since Reconstruction, I was prepared for the inflammatory, sensational and racist coverage accorded the Hurricane Katrina tragedy, much of it lining up with that of the online comments about the flood and its aftermath by ex-convict David Duke, a leader of the Eurocentric movement in the United States. White residents of Louisiana were so fond of this man that they almost elected him governor.
Also, I'm not surprised that there was very little difference between the former Ku Klux Klan leader's comments and commentary earlier this week by the New York Times' elite columnists Nicholas D. Kristof and John Tierney. Conservatives might view the Times as liberal, but, in my opinion, the Times leads the nation's media when it comes to scapegoating blacks for the country's social problems.
Color-blind coverage?
- Ishmael Reed
Friday, September 9, 2005
Because many whites believe a fact only when someone who resembles them informs them of it, black opinion-makers are wasting their time when they talk about the racist features of the New Orleans' calamity. It's better to leave that job to Maureen Dowd, writing in the New York Times, Francis Fox Piven, appearing on KPFA radio and, remarkably, Don Imus on MSNBC.
As a result of an industry of heavily financed think tanks and a media intimidated by conservatives -- institutions that have conspired to destroy the credibility of black leaders -- many Americans are convinced that American society is color-blind. Many progressives agree, maintaining that issues involving gays, lesbians, transgender persons and white middle-class women are more pressing than those affecting blacks. I'm against discrimination against anyone, but I've noticed that most of those being evacuated from New Orleans -- people who couldn't get out -- were black, both gay and straight. Yet, when the Rev. Jesse Jackson raised the issue of the racist treatment of black residents, he got a Swift Boat-type retaliation from Bill O'Reilly and Newt Gingrich, who appeared on O'Reilly's show Monday. (Of course, we learned from the documentary "Outfoxed" that sliming Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton are part of the Fox playbook.)
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