CNN’s VERY Mixed Messages on Race and Crime

Don Lemon



Carol Costello



Ashley Banfield

Is it me, or has CNN cynically played the subject of “race in America,” both ways?

In both the Trayvon Martin and the Michael Brown shootings, they (almost certainly deliberately) failed to make an affirmative argument in favor of either racial profiling, OR murder in either case, while at the same time, many CNN hosts seemed to exhibit a rooting interest in the cases.

In the Brown case, in particular, CNN seemed to buy into Brown’s assaulting Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson from the start. Nothing at all wrong with that, as that’s almost certainly what happened, but then commentators from Erin Burnett, to Brooke Baldwin to Carol Costello, to Ashley Banfield and Don Lemon than cynically played the story both ways.

There’s something wrong with a station seemingly undermining its own official meme (IF indeed “a crisis of black victimization” is truly their meme), by constantly trumpeting America’s wildly disproportionate violent crime stats. I can’t even count the number of times I've heard CNN anchors talk about how 6% of the population (black males) commit at least 50% of the murders nationwide. Such stats certainly DO seem to make the case for greater police scrutiny and a greater chance of such catastrophic encounters with law enforcement.

Why else pick such terrible cases to make their case for “black victimization”? Apparently Trayvon Martin attacked George Zimmerman and tried to wrest the local “community watch captain’s” gun from him, and it now seems all but certain that Michael Brown charged Officer Wilson’s cruiser, pummeled the cop and struggled for that police officer’s gun! Those are hardly incidents of “black victimization,” in fact, they seem much more like examples of blacks victimizing others!

On Staten Island (my home town) Eric Garner was killed while non-violently resisting arrest, this past July (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1ka4oKu1jo), and more recently, a rookie police officer in the NYPD (Peter Liang) apparently had his finger on the trigger of his gun while patrolling a housing project's stairwell and killed 28 y/o Akai Gurley with a single gunshot that ricocheted off a wall.

BOTH of these cases seem to be much stronger cases, with much better chances of a determination of some degree of police misconduct.

So, WHY does CNN continually do this? Using such poor cases to advance an alleged agenda, other than to deliberately undermine an agenda they themselves don’t really believe in? If that's truly the case, than THAT is sickeningly cynical.

The fact is, in the United States, all citizens are legally bound to comply with ALL police directives. If a cop orders you off the street, non-compliance WILL and SHOULD result in an arrest. There is NO right to confront, debate or otherwise contest police action in the streets. The courts exist to adjudicate (judge), the police exist ONLY to enforce the law.

The minute a police officer says the words, “You are under arrest,” you are ALREADY under arrest. Merely backing away and proclaiming, “I didn’t do anything” (even if true) is a crime - RESISTING ARREST. Just pushing a cops hands away as he tries to handcuff you is “ASSAULTING a POLICE OFFICER.”

Again, there is NO right to negotiate in the street. Police merely enforce the laws. The COURTS adjudicate charges and determine guilt or innocence.

In the Michael Brown case, there’s virtually NO DOUBT that Michael Brown assaulted a cop (Darren Wilson), actually struggling with that cop for his gun. A New York State cop was murdered with his own gun by an "unarmed" man just 4 months prior to the Mike Brown shooting (http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/officer-shot-killed-crazed-man-snatches-gun-police-article-1.1740921) and yet some misguided and misinformed media people act as though that can't happen!

At any rate, that struggle (inside that police cruiser) amounted to attempted murder. Sadly, for him and his family, Michael Brown got exactly what he deserved.

One of the refrains throughout these protests is the “lack of respect” police exhibit...I suppose like Officer Wilson telling Michael Brown and Dorian Johnson to “Get the f*ck outta the street,” as they sauntered down the center of a busy thoroughfare, and sentiments about “our servants shouldn't be pushing us around.” The police are NOT any individual’s servants. They SERVE the LAW...they serve the greater society at large.

I and others like me (very probably Carol Costello, Ashley Banfield, Don Lemon and Erin Burnett) WANT the police to enforce the laws and we revile citizens who’d do anything we wouldn't do...like challenging, or confronting a police officer, or actively resisting arrest.

On the one hand, I DO commend CNN for NOT hiding the widely disparate violent crime rates in America (black males, appx. 6% of the population commit nearly 50% of all homicides in America), HOWEVER, I deride them for failing to even attempt to make a credible argument in favor of blacks being abused, or disproportionately singled out for criminal investigation by law enforcement.

Doesn't CNN have the responsibility to at least make an attempt to defend a meme they purport to advance?

Rare (from me) Kudos to CNN...Specifically to Chris Cuomo

CNN's Chris Cuomo

Since I have excoriated CNN (especially Carol Costello and Erin Burnett) over their coverage of racial issues (ie. the Trayvon Martin case, etc.), I HAVE TO credit CNN, especially Chris Cuomo for doing an excellent interview with the very flawed and inarticulate Cliven Bundy AND for dealing with the issue in a far LESS politically partisan and inflammatory way than many of his co-workers at CNN.

Here is a good clip of a good portion of that interview;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmc5koVpQXM

I believe Chris Cuomo went out of his way to be fair and even-handed with an obviously inarticulate man. He did NOT look to bait Bundy into digging an even deeper hole and even appeared to look to understand Bundy’s concerns over what he saw as federal overreach. Cuomo delivered a very “fair and balanced” interview of a highly controversial man. It was certainly a much more fair and unbiased report than any of those done on MSNBC and FNC. In fact, Chris Cuomo even defended FNC host Sean Hannity, as "a friend," who he's certain shares none of Bundy's racial views.

Bundy, to his great detriment, has allowed his poorly articulated and archaic racial views to overshadow a legitimate state’s rights and federal overreach issue.

THAT (Bundy’s reckless racial commentary), is not the national media’s fault.

Its ultra-partisan way of handling it certainly IS!

That is why Chris Cuomo stands out, today, as a beacon of non-partisanship.

Many paternalistic bigots have attempted to use Cliven Bundy’s grossly inarticulate words to (1) undermine his very real issues with federal overreach and land management abuse, via high fees and senseless regulations and (2) to tar those who supported those legitimate issues as “racists,” for having defended Bundy’s views on federal overreach.

Many of these paternalists have likened Bundy’s racial views to those of the critics of the existing American welfare/dependency state. Indeed legislators like Paul Ryan, Scott Walker and others HAVE rightly note that the existing welfare/dependency state “breeds dysfunction.” That is as sad, as it is true, BUT it is also undeniable. I've been to hundreds of fires and many hundreds more emergencies in urban housing projects (mostly in the South Bronx). The stairwells and elevators in ALL those buildings reek of urine. Drug deals and sexual encounters regularly go on in those enclosed stairwells. The marauders, the violently dysfunctional control those areas. Others live in abject terror. Many people born into those areas DO get an education and good jobs and LEAVE those areas.

However, the idea that the paternalists seem to posit; that there’s very little difference between the population (and their behaviors) in any given urban housing project and that of any up-scale suburban neighborhood is naively ignorant.

Poverty, like LIFE itself doesn’t just “happen to us.” We make things happen, we bring BOTH the good and the bad into our own lives. Just as specific human qualities and actions bring about prosperity (innovation, ambition, focus, delaying gratification, planning, etc.), specific human qualities and activities bring about poverty (recklessness, irresponsibility, poor impulse control, the inability to delay gratification, substance abuse, illiteracy, etc.).

Cliven Bundy may well be an inarticulate, “hick,” at least in the eyes of many urban elites, who’ve harped on what they’ve called his “nostalgia for chattel slavery,” BUT interestingly enough, one of Bundy’s black supporters (Jason Bullock) seemed to paint a very different picture of the old codger; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCto_bGIT2o

What counts the most, how poorly or well one articulates their sentiments, or how well they treat others? Many people who say all the right things, never act in accordance with their own words. Hell, con-men and sociopaths ALWAYS say the right things and practice coming across as “good & decent,” even “caring and empathetic.” We put weight on people’s words at our own peril. It SEEMS that Jason Bullock attempts to convey that Bundy’s actions appear to belie his words.

Bundy’s plight SHOULD bring to light federal policies that abuse individual ranchers via escalating fees and senseless regulations. His unilateral actions (NOT paying fees that other ranchers are forced to pay) were illegal, but the federal policies themselves seem to have been poorly implemented, probably abusive, even potentially immoral.

There are legitimate issues around government overreach and federal land abuse here, and seeking to bury those legitimate issues beneath an avalanche of trumped up racial outrage is patently dishonest.

Many years ago, a College classmate of mine said, “Almost everyone derives at least some of their income from government today. We have an army of local, state and federal officials, from educators, to police, to workers in a vast array of government agencies, private contractors who pave roads FOR the government, workers in private Corporations that have huge government contracts, farmers and ranchers who get government subsidies, etc., so WHY do so many of us (especially so many military and former military...GOVERNMENT WORKERS) fear the growth of government so much?”

I call that, “The HAPPY Slave narrative.” People like that classmate simply embrace the universal slavery to the state that Libertarians and many Conservatives reflexively question.

What troubles me is the abject close-mindedness of those who don’t question the “happy slave narrative.” WHY? I should say, what motivates people to simply accept the idea of a universal slavery to the state as inevitable? I can’t respect that view, but that’s just me, I guess.

Today, I laud Chris Cuomo for being a straight shooter on a very controversial issue and in dealing with an inarticulate and non-media savvy individual without baiting and abusing him. It may be unfortunate that that stands out as a “rare decency,” on the part of the national media, but for better, or worse, it does stand out as exactly that.

Poor CNN....ALL They're Left With Are Curtis Reeves and Willie Noble!

Carol Costello  (above)          AND            Erin Burnett  (below)

What are the race mongers at CNN and MSNBC going to do now?!

In the wake of the “Loud Music Shooting” in which white, middle aged software developer Michael Dunn killed young, black Jordan Davis, they were able to attempt to turn an ugly incident between an adult jerk and a bunch of teen jerks into a racial incident...the upcoming major national crimes offer no such possibilities.

DRATS!

All they have left right now are Curtis Reeves and Willie Noble. What will Carol Costello, Erin Burnett and the other race mongers do for an encore?

I guess they’re going to have to wait...for the "right crime.”

And given the stats over race and crime (young black males committing a widely disproportionate amount of the violent crime in America), it could be a long and painful wait.

Seriously, do I HAVE TO go over these stats on race and crime again? Stats, by the way, which I gleaned by watching CNN!

OK, I will;

— "Blacks commit more violent crime against whites than against other blacks." Forty-five percent of the victims of violent crime by blacks are white folks, 43 percent are black, 10 percent are Hispanic.

— “Blacks are seven times as likely as people of other races to commit murder, eight times more likely to commit robbery and three times more likely to use a gun in a crime.

— "Blacks are an estimated 39 times more likely to commit violent crime against a white person than vice versa, and 136 times more likely to commit robbery."

— “Black-on-white rape is 115 times more common than the reverse.”

So once again, what do these crime statistics tell us? Merely that “the real repository of racism in America — manifest in violent interracial assault, rape and murder is NOT to be found in the white community, but the African-American community. In almost all interracial attacks, whites are the victims, not the victimizers.”

In the case of Curtis Reeves, a white former cop who shot another man over texting in a movie theater (claiming the guy throwing popcorn at him constituted a “threat”), he unfortunately shot another white man.

In the case of Willie Noble of Arkansas, a black man who shot a teen after the group the teen was with egged his car, he sadly also shot...another African-American.

What were these guys thinking?!

Don’t they know that news-entertainers like Carol Costello, Melissa Harris-Perry and Erin Burnett live for inter-racial violence?

Do these guys even care ONE BIT how their callous disregard for ratings impacts these hosts?

OK, in the case of Mr. Noble, there’s little he could’ve done. If he’d shot a white teen, well that would've been no big deal to the likes of Ms. Costello or Ms. Burnett. In fact, they’d probably have framed their stories around the white teen “deserving it,” or “bringing it on herself,” all the while arranging for carefully chosen guests to undermine their own arguments on behalf of the traditional media meme – “black victim, white abuser.”

BUT Mr. Reeves really messed up! WHY couldn't he have targeted a black texter? Or, absent that, WHY couldn't he have missed the actual texter and shot a black theater-goer by mistake...even then, I’m sure Carol and Erin could’ve argued that somehow he meant to shoot the black victim, because after all, he’s both white and a former cop (a/k/a “racist”).

Seriously, I DO feel bad that things have broken so badly for Ms. Costello and Ms. Burnett. They’re going to have to largely ignore these two most recent national crimes, or resort to excoriating guns because there’s just no race angle to play here.

Wait a minute! I know! They could instead focus on Conrad Alvin Barrett (here’s CNNs own report: http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/26/justice/texas-knockout-charge/) the WHITE Texas teen who punched a 79 year-old BLACK man playing “the knockout game.” Barrett remains the ONE person the grossly incompetent Eric Holder DoJ has charged with a “hate crime” over this virulently racist “game.”

I’m glad I thought of that. I hope it’s NOT too late and I sure hope that Ms. Burnett and Ms. Costello get the memo so they don’t have to suffer those nasty race-obsession withdrawal symptoms.
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Post Script: The sad thing is that you cannot possibly shame these smug, sanctimonious, race-obsessed people because they are convinced they're motivated by righteousness. Unfortunately Hitler, Mao, Stalin and virtually every serial killer that ever lived have all felt they were motivated by some form of "righteousness" too. I KNOW all his, but I STILL can't help noticing it and finding the smell repugnant.

CNN’s Obnoxious Hypocrisy

CNN's Carol Costello

Lately I’ve found CNN to be the most consistently interesting and amusing cable news station on the air.

Unfortunately it’s NOT because of Fareed Zakaria’s always interesting take on Sunday mornings, or the now departed Howard Kurtz’ media analysis, no, sadly it’s because of a couple of deeply disingenuous hosts – daytime’s Carol Costello and prime time’s Erin Burnett.

BOTH these anchors, like many in the media are seemingly obsessed with race, but unlike most in the media, they approach the subject in the most mottled, even dishonest way.

In fact, their coverage of the race issue in America has left me puzzled. I have to confess that what I saw of Michael Dunn, I DID NOT like. He couldn't help himself, but he came off as an arrogant, imperious, pompous jerk...much like the majority of those in the media, Ms. Costello and Ms. Burnett being two prime examples.

Is it possible that both hosts see a bit of themselves in Michael Dunn? I’d object only in that Michael Dunn (a software developer) is probably quite a bit smarter than anyone at CNN or most other media outlets, but personality-wise, yes, there are definitely some similar personality traits Dunn shares with most “on-air news talent.”

If so, perhaps that’s why both Carol Costello and Erin Burnett, in particular seem to go out of their way to undermine the accepted media meme on race – “black victim, white abuser.”

As an example, in discussing the trial of Michael Dunn (the most recent media race sensation), in response to the observation, “Michael Dunn, like many white Americans might have had an unreasonable fear of young black males,” one of Ms. Costello’s expert legal guests left this out there completely unchallenged, “All groups, not just whites have a very reasonable fear of young black males, because young black males commit such a disproportionate share of the violent crime in America.”

He then went on to quote the FBI’s crime stats and Justice surveys, which, among other things allegedly showed that;

— "Blacks commit more violent crime against whites than against other blacks." Forty-five percent of the victims of violent crime by blacks are white folks, 43 percent are black, 10 percent are Hispanic.

— “Blacks are seven times as likely as people of other races to commit murder, eight times more likely to commit robbery and three times more likely to use a gun in a crime.

— "Blacks are an estimated 39 times more likely to commit violent crime against a white person than vice versa, and 136 times more likely to commit robbery.

— “Black-on-white rape is 115 times more common than the reverse.

- “Even the two most famous sexual assaults by white men on black women in the last two decades the Tawana Brawley and Duke rape cases — turned out to be hoaxes.”

He went on to say, “What do these statistics tell us? A message most will not report. The real repository of racism in America — manifest in violent interracial assault, rape and murder is NOT to be found in the white community, but the African-American community. In almost all interracial attacks, whites are the victims, not the victimizers.”

Perhaps the reason that wasn't confronted by Ms. Costello or ANY other CNN host is because it’s absolutely and unequivocally true. I looked those stats up AFTER that CNN broadcast and YES...they are all very true. They can all very easily be found in a report titled “The Color of Crime.” (http://www.colorofcrime.com/colorofcrime2005.pdf). CNN isn't the ONLY media outlet NOT to have challenged that report, so far as I know, it has NEVER once been challenged by anyone from any media outlet.

STILL, that begs the question, “Do these particular hosts deliberately bring on guests to undermine the very views that have been the staple of the American media to date, that “African-Americans are disproportionately victims of white racism”?

After all, CNN is the SAME channel that brought up the killing of David James during the Trayvon Martin trial, AGAIN, with at least one legal guest describing the murder of white Air Force Corpsman David James by black homeowner Trevor Dooley as “an out-and-out race murder,” without that assertion being questioned.

In that case, I’d never even heard of the David James murder in Florida, not Trevor Dooley’s failed “Stand-Your-Ground” defense, but AGAIN, after looking it up, it seems EXACTLY what that CNN guest relayed. (http://www.truecrimereport.com/2010/09/david_james_air_force_veteran.php)

In this regard CNN has become the primary disseminator of a form of race realism.

Now I commend them on that, while I DO question the disingenuous way in which it is delivered, one that allows hosts like Ms. Costello and Ms. Burnett to remain above the fray, while giving no context to such assertions by their very carefully chosen “guests.”