CNN.com Lead Story About Obama: “The Risk Of Being An ‘Angry Black Man'” (Update)
What an epic failure of a lead story on CNN.com right now.
“The risk of being an ‘angry black man,'” says the headline. The caption notes: “scholars say history has shown that African-American men can frighten white people if they display too much anger.” Oh dear. > Update: Here come the edits.
Take a look, then let’s discuss below:
And here’s your opening to the top story by John Blake, titled in full “Why Obama doesn’t dare become the ‘angry black man'”:
Here’s proof that President Obama has indeed ushered in a new era in race relations.
Who would have ever expected some white Americans to demand that an African-American man show more rage?
I know, who would have ever expected that, from us white Americans who normally would be so damn scared of an angry African-American man. “New era” indeed.
Dee Dee Myers approached the topic yesterday, but this takes it to a new level. The key problem with the argument is that even if some Americans are afraid of ‘angry black men,’ it is inconsequential to the response they could conceivably be looking for from Pres. Obama. Emotion, caring – this is what people want (and some feel they haven’t seen from Pres. Obama). What does this have anything to do with the racism of some people?
“”Folks are waiting for a Samuel Jackson ‘Snakes on the Plane’ moment from this president as in: ‘We gotta’ get this $#@!!* oil back in the $#!!* rig!’ But that’s just not who Obama is,” says political science professor Saladin Ambar early in the article.
With all due respect to the professor (seriously, a professor said this) – NO. No one is waiting for Pres. Obama to say this. It’s ridiculous to even imply that. Instead, CNN may want to reconsider having this $#@!!* article on its $#!!* homepage.
> Update: Now the caption reads: “who would have ever expected some white Americans to demand that an African-American man show more rage?” instead of the “scholars say” line.
> Update 2: As of 3:20pmET, it’s out of the lead story. Instead, it’s ‘below the fold’ with the new headline: “The politics of anger and race.”
