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Sunday Morning Conversations About Race

by Michael Triplett | 3:35 pm, July 25th, 2010

» 33 comments

It was race relations Sunday on the morning network shows where, yet again, the screens were filled with lone African American panelists talking about race with a lot of white folks. In a variation on Rachel Sklar’s recent analysis on the Bechdel Test for the Media, the rare instances where African American panelists did appear together on Sunday morning, they were talking about race.

On Meet the Press, it was the Urban League’s Marc Morial who lead the race talk with his white counterparts David Brooks, E.J. Dionne, Anita Dunn and CNBC’s Rick Santelli chatting with David Gregory. Morial put the blame on Andrew Breitbart, saying Shirley Sherrod’s story was a story of reconciliation. Dunn blamed a “false meta-narrative” attacking the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People while Dionne and Brooks played their middle-of-the road roles alternatingly blaming both conservatives and liberals.

In a telling moment about the role of the African American panelist, Morial tried to turn the conversation to larger policy and economic questions but Gregory dragged him back to the issue of race, asking him to react to Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and his comments on affirmative action. Even when Santelli wanted to talk about Morial’s larger economic policy question, Gregory cut it off. In the next segment, Morial was the only panelist not asked a question about economic problems and was asked a question in the final segment only to comment on Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-.N.Y), the African American head of the House Ways and Means Committee facing ethics problems.

The race conversation on This Week fell on the shoulders of regular Donna Brazile who was the sole non-white voice on a panel that included Cokie Roberts, Sam Donaldson, the Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes and host Jake Tapper.

How do we know that Brazile’s job was to talk about race: she was asked the first and last question, although Roberts got the last word.

Saying the White House continued to deny they fired Sherrod, Brazile said Sherrod’ s story was “a story that is just as amazing as the hymns of Amazing Grace. It was a story of redemption.” Roberts quickly shifted the majority of the blame on the White House, while Donaldson was more than happy to spread the blame around to Breitbart and Fox News. Hayes ably defended the conservative press and said Sherrod slipped into “easy allegations of racism” when talking about conservatives and the health care debate.

Over at Fox News Sunday, the race discussion was handed to Rev. Jesse Jackson after Howard Dean schooled Chris Wallace and Fox News about being racist. The panel had Juan Williams stuck talking about race–although he was allowed to talk about other issues–with the regulars Bill Kristol, Mara Liasson, and Britt Hume.

Face the Nation had two African American panelists–with professors and authors Michael Eric Dyson and Cornel West–both there to talk only about race in a segment that included Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson playing the role of the white conservative. An earlier segment included Abigail Thernstrom and Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund discussing the dispute over the Justice Department investigation of the New Black Panther Party and alleged voter intimidation.

On CNN’s State of the Union, the race conversation took place between law school dean Christopher Edley and the New Republic’s John McWhorter. The two African American men again talked about the Sherrod affair, with Edley saying the race was “like waving kryptonite in front of super stars in the media or in politics. Their knees go wobbly. Misjudgments are made. And it has really been shameful.”

Both men said that the conversation over race was complicated by the fact that it is difficult to have conversation because, as McWhorter says, it appears it’s more about “a conversion” where “white America is supposed to realize that the civil rights revolution wasn’t enough, that structural racism, et cetera, still remains prevalent, and that there is still more admitting that needs to be done and probably some sort of second civil rights revolution.”

Race conversations are important and it’s great that African American panelists are showing up on the Sunday shows. But when African American panelists only are allowed to talk about race and the only time two of them appear on screen they are talking about race, there’s a larger problem. When Morial is essentially shut out of the conversation on economics while the white panelists were asked for analysis, it was a telling moment. It probably wasn’t even intentional, but it was stunning nonetheless.

Donna Brazile, Face the Nation, Marc Morial, Meet the Press, State of the Union, This Week

Pablo

Over at Fox News Sunday, the race discussion was handed to Rev. Jesse Jackson after Howard Dean schooled Chris Wallace and Fox News about being racist.

When you “school” someone, they usually learn something other than that you don’t have your facts straight. Dean schooled no one, and even Glynnis gets that.
Pablo

BTW, does anyone else get the impression that Jesse is losing what’s left of his marbles?
writer

Did they ask Jesse about his buddy Jeff Fort, who ran the El Rukn crime syndicate and killed more black people than cancer?
Moderate

Is this saying only Fox News allow blacks to discuss something other than “Race”?
juan

Americans are fed-up with the Democrat Party and Obama playing that tired and old race-card!

Now, it has backfired on them BIG TIME
http://www.facebook.com/people/ronke-a/509394975 ronke a

Michael, obviously you didn’t watch the Fox News Sunday otherwise you would not have stated that “Howard Dean schooled Chris Wallace and Fox News about being racist.” Howard Dean was the one that was actually schooled on getting his facts straight. I encourage you to watch the segment again and edit your comments. It’ll prove that you’re not a biased journalist. That is all.
juan

“Redistribution of Wealth” in lieu of “Reparations” is failing just as Obama is!
http://gordonbloyershow.com gordonbloyershow

Brazile is a result of double affirmitive action. She is a woman and she is black. If a white woman spoke the way Brazile does they would say she was a illiterate hick.

The Urban League’s Morial started out by lying about Brietbart’s video. He said he edited the video, he did not.
How long has it been since anyone heard from the Urban League?

All of these black groups are just there to con money out of people not to call them racist.
JimBob

The largest problem most people have when Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton come on anywhere! Rev. Al and The Rev. Jesse like to pretend they are intelligent!! And that my friends is where they begin to unravel! They have a very hard time pulling it off! Just race baiters and poverty pimps making a fortune with their constant crap stirring! Pathetic!!
Howard Dean is an ASSHOLE!!
http://apostrophejones.com Apostrophe jones

Race expert Howard Dean never met any black people in Vermont , but he does have Jim Croce’s Bad , Bad Leroy Brown on the 8 track in his van .
JimBob

Juan said;

This race baiting crap from the Dems has backfired BIGTIME!!

HEAR!! HEAR!! People, keep it up and just WATCH!!
http://apostrophejones.com Apostrophe jones

Donna Brazile thinks Norwegians are prejudiced because Obama is not getting a Nobel this year . Jesse is the one who got Bonanza canceled because there were no black Cartwrights . Watch out , Jesse , I think there be a Hymie over there !
Azarkhan

Talk about race in this country has gone from being tedious to farcical. It’s gotten so lame that I could give Howard Dean and Jesse Jackson their talking points.

PS: Cokie Roberts & Sam Donaldson? Where did they find those two fossils?
lazzzlo

“In a variation on Rachel Sklar’s recent analysis on the Bechdel Test for the Media, the rare instances where African American panelists did appear together on Sunday morning, they were talking about race.”

Interesting concept which had nothing to do with race…indeed, the analysis was a variation…it was about gender.
writer

When Jesse was ‘asking’ businesses in Chicago for ‘contributions’ to his Rainbow Coalition, it was know that Jesse was working with Jeff Fort. (Jeff is currently doing life in a super max, but I digress) Anyway, not many business owners wanted to make Jeff angry, and happily ‘contributed’ to Jesse.
lazzzlo

In a variation of my income…I am a millionaire.
http://apostrophejones.com Apostrophe jones

They really needed to have brought future President Alvin Greene in for this . Or Al Franken , the William Jennings Bryan of the 21st century .
The Real Royal King

Azarkhan said:
Talk about race in this country has gone from being tedious to farcical. It’s gotten so lame that I could give Howard Dean and Jesse Jackson their talking points. PS: Cokie Roberts & Sam Donaldson? Where did they find those two fossils?

Lame? Interesting choice for words for a topic that bit off a big chunk of your arse last week. Word hasn’t made it to your brain stem yet that Breibart and the FOX Network lost all credibility last week and that reverse discrimination is not a serious topic of conversation, anymore.

Spiro Agnew provides the FOX Netwok’s methdology: I promise I won’t deceive you except in matters of this sort.
writer

King, somehow you’ve gotten the idea that a slip up by Fox proves that there’s no such thing as a black racist. People such as Wright, Farrakhan, the panthers, and others were racists before Breitbart, and they’ll be racists after Breitbart.
Azarkhan

“Spiro Agnew provides the FOX Netwok’s methdology” Royal

Mr. Agnew and Royal knew each other. In fact it was Royal who Mr. Agnew had in mind when he called white liberals “an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals.”
http://www.facebook.com/people/Joshua-Taj-Bozeman/661000669 Joshua Taj Bozeman

I have a feeling that the Obama administration, and this constant obsession among liberals with race, is going to set back the plight of black Americans a few decades. I honestly think that by the time Obama’s 4 years are up, we’re going to be so sick and tired of hearing how we’re all racist, that it will, unfortunately, hurt the chances of future black candidates as well.

Somehow when Obama spent 20 years in a viruently racist church based on black dominance theology, the media yawned. But when a black women says something racist then tries to walk it back later in a speech, and one outlet covers the story, the media goes insane. Everyone on Sunday is discussing race, it’s 24/7 attacks as conservatives as racist, Fox News as racist, etc.

It’s INSANE folks. Insane.

By the way- you know the world is messed up when we get scumbags like Jesse Jackson, Cornell West, and others to talk about race. These folks are radicals in every sense of the word, and hearing these fellas talk about race is a joke. It’s like having David Duke on to talk about race issues. The neverending double standard for liberals. It’s not at all shocking, but it’s still as disgusting as ever.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Joshua-Taj-Bozeman/661000669 Joshua Taj Bozeman

====Lame? Interesting choice for words for a topic that bit off a big chunk of your arse last week. Word hasn’t made it to your brain stem yet that Breibart and the FOX Network lost all credibility last week and that reverse discrimination is not a serious topic of conversation, anymore=====

This is utter nonsense. Please, King, explain how Fox News lost all credibility. They covered a story of a woman being fired AFTER she was fired…and they showed the video that got her fired. I’m trying to figure out how a rational personal would deduce that equals a loss of credibility?

Answer this- if a tape came out of a white USDA official saying she refused to help black farmers and pawned them off to their “own kind”, even if the video was only a snippet of a larger video, would you have covered that story? Do you deny that every news org. in the nation WOULD have carried the video the min they had it in their hands? Why the double standard then?
Sean68

Ask that employee at Columbia University how her conversation on race went? Here’s a hint: She was punched in the face by a black (affirmative action) professor of architecture. Here’s another hint: he wasn’t fired. THAT’s how the conversation on race is going. White people, just sit there and shut up.
gary

Anybody who thought Dean schooled Wallace needs to find a new line of work.
ChiliPeppersFan

michael eric dyson…”the reptilian, repugnant right-wing”
classic..haha
Sean68

ChiliPeppersFan said:
michael eric dyson…”the reptilian, repugnant right-wing”classic..haha

Dyson cracks me up. “Dr.” Dyson…a guy would never use a two-syllable word when he can find one with four. He makes Cornell West sound like Ludwig Wittgenstein. Perhaps you’d like to hear Dr. Dyson expound on the poetics of Tupac.
sarainitaly

” after Howard Dean schooled Chris Wallace and Fox News about being racist. ”

You have an interesting interpretation of what *schooled* means…. I think you need to actually watch the clip, and amend your article.
sarainitaly

“The panel had Juan Williams stuck talking about race–although he was allowed to talk about other issues–with the regulars Bill Kristol, Mara Liasson, and Britt Hume.”

Considering Juan is a regular on FOX, I wonder how he would feel with your interpretation that *he was allowed to talk…*.
NORBIT

Sara,
You are 100% correct, Juan is all over Fox, talking about every issue they address!!

It was either an ill-informed or prejudiced statement that this writer made – but it goes to the bias narrative the left-leaning media brings to their ‘reporting’.
Michael Triplett

I was comparing Williams to the other African American analysts who showed up on Sunday. I agree that Williams–who is a Fox regular–routinely discusses a wide-range of topics. On Sunday, however, he was one of the few African American analysts who wasn’t confined just to talking about race.

As for “schooled,” I don’t think Websters has landed on the exact definition. I realize there is disagrement about how that segment came off–as Glynnis expalined–and I agree that arguably Wallace “schooled” Dean as well.
gary

I’ll school you a little bit. Use spellcheck. What’s expalined? BTW please reinforce the areas of discussion where Dean schooled Wallace? What a joke.
http://none pyrope

As for “schooled,” I don’t think Websters has landed on the exact definition. I realize there is disagrement about how that segment came off–as Glynnis expalined–and I agree that arguably Wallace “schooled” Dean as well.

If the word does not have a concise meaning, why use it? Be clear in your writing so that nothing you say can possibly be misconstrued. Of course, you may have to defend your comments when you do that but such is the price for playing in the minor leagues. (You aren’t in the big leagues yet.)
sarainitaly

Michael Triplett said:
As for “schooled,” I don’t think Websters has landed on the exact definition. I realize there is disagrement about how that segment came off–as Glynnis expalined–and I agree that arguably Wallace “schooled” Dean as well.

It may not be in Websters, but the meaning most certainly isn’t, “Dean stated a bunch of lies, Wallace confronted him, stated the facts and didn’t let Dean get away with spreading his lies” – That would not qualify as Dean schooling Wallace.

Wallace schooled Dean.