Chuck Todd may not realize it, but he played into the hands of racists when he aired a segment on gun violence that featured only black men. His apology if you can call it that has fallen short, very short in that it wasn't an apology at all. He says his job is to make people uncomfortable. Well Mr. Todd, I am very uncomfortable with racist inculcation disguised as a news show. If I wanted that I could watch FOX news.
I don't often start petitions, but when I do they are to get Chuck Todd fired. His coverage after 9 people were massacred while attending a Church service does a disservice not only to the black community, but to the entire nation. It's enough that it borders on hate speech disguised as a news segment. And it's enough that it's hurtful to the AA community, but this is exactly the kind of institutional racism that persists in our society that people have become inured.
We need to see action taken when someone creates a situation where it becomes possible for racists to point and say see, "Black people are more violent." It is death by a thousand cuts, and FOX news is excellent at this method. This kind of reporting is so common it's difficult to see that it happens. Some people are good at spotting the trees in the forest and some are not. We need to point this out when something this egregious is done in the news community and we need to say why it's so egregious. In this case I believe it perpetuates the myth of the violent black man and it makes it so much easier for violence to be committed against black people, both by civilians and law enforcement. It makes it harder for people to commit to the cause of social justice and to agree that everyone deserves to be treated with respect.
The NBC Fire Chuck Todd petition:
http://goo.gl/...