Articles Feature

Black Commentators: ‘Deplorables’ Is True

by richard11255

Clinton’s Label for Half of Trump Backers Is Correct

Trump: ‘Maybe, We Should Have No Moderator’

Arrest Warrant Issued for ‘Democracy Now!’ Host

Despite Killings, Neighbors Get On With Their Lives

Police Go from Stop-and-Frisk to Stop-and-Spit

Arab American News Bemoans Post-9/11 Atrocities

Irving Washington Named ONA Executive Director

Short Takes

Clinton’s Label for Half of Trump Backers Is Correct

“On Friday, offering remarks at a fundraiser in Manhattan, Hillary Clinton gave her view of Donald Trump’s supporters and caused a scandal by telling the truth,” Jamelle Bouie wrote Sunday for Slate.

His views were shared by a remarkable number of commentators of color — Ta-Nehisi Coates of the Atlantic, Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post, Charles M. Blow of the New York Times, Bakari Sellers on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Juan Williams on “Fox News Sunday” and some white commentators.

Bouie, who also spoke to the issue on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, wrote, “ ‘To just be grossly generalistic,’ said Clinton, ‘you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.’

“She continued: ‘But the other basket — and I know this because I see friends from all over America here … but that other basket are people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures — they’re just desperate for change. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well.’

Jamelle Bouie was named a "Face the Nation" analyst last November.
Jamelle Bouie was named a “Face the Nation” analyst last November.

“Some members of the political press were swift with their judgment. ‘No. 1 rule of presidential politics. Okay to mock your opponent. Never a good idea to mock the electorate,’ said Michael Barbaro of the New York Times on Twitter. ‘Any more appropriate place for Clinton to make her “basket of deplorables” comment than at a fundraiser with Barbra Streisand?” asked Aaron Blake of the Washington Post.’ Memo to candidates: Stop generalizing and psychoanalyzing your opponents’ supporters. It never works out well for you,’ wrote Domenico Montanaro of NPR.

“Most of this amounts to theater criticism — an analysis of how the remarks look, how they might play with a broader audience. In his take on Clinton’s riff, Montanaro at least begins to broach this question of whether any of it was true. ‘There’s no data to support such a specific number,’ he wrote, taking issue with Clinton’s view that ‘half’ of Trump’s supporters fall into a ‘basket of deplorables.’ And in her response to the criticism, Clinton walked back from that number. ‘Last night I was ‘grossly generalistic,’ and that’s never a good idea. I regret saying ‘half’ — that was wrong,’ she said in a statement from the campaign.

“But ‘half’ wasn’t wrong. ‘Half’ wasn’t a gross generalization at all. ‘Half’ was by all indications close to the truth. . . .”

He continued on “Face the Nation”: “I’m inclined — so I’m inclined to see it as strategy and not so much as a gaffe because when I heard the remark, my first question was, well, is this true, right? Regardless of how it sounds or what it looks like, is it actually — what is the case about Donald Trump’s supporters?

“And if you break down the numbers and you look at the Real Clear Politics average and that gives Trump about 43 percent of the registered voters. It was about 30, 31 million people. Compare that to polls that show 65 to 70 percent of all Republicans who say that Barack Obama either wasn’t born in the United States or is a Muslim. You look at pilot data from the American National Election Study and it shows upward of 40 percent of Republicans saying things like, blacks are more violent, blacks are lazier, Muslims are more violent, Muslims are lazier.

“Among Trump supporters in particular, 60, 50, 70 percent of them agree with statements that political scientists categorize as being explicitly racist. So I’m — I’m looking at Clinton’s statement and half, which is about 31 million people again, doesn’t really seem that out of bounds. Forty to 50 percent of Republicans I would say, looking at the full spectrum of data, agree with beliefs that we would categorize as explicitly prejudiced. So regardless of whether or not Clinton needs [to] walk it back or not, I think she’s being correct and accurate. . . .”

Trump: ‘Maybe, We Should Have No Moderator’

“Since NBC’s Matt Lauer received widespread criticism for failing to fact-check Donald Trump at Wednesday night’s presidential forum, members of the public and press have been urging moderators for the upcoming debates to do better,” Michael Calderone wrote Monday for the Huffington Post.

“If the GOP nominee lies about being a vocal opponent of the Iraq War, as he did Wednesday and throughout the 2016 campaign, for instance, he should be called out.

“Trump responded Monday to the Lauer controversy, and growing calls for the TV journalists steering the debates to challenge Trump’s and Hillary Clinton’s falsehoods, by proposing there should be no moderators at all.

“ ‘I think, maybe, we should have no moderator,’ Trump said on CNBC. ‘Let Hillary and I sit there and just debate. I think the system is being rigged so it’s going to be a very unfair debate. And I can see it happening right now. Everyone’s saying that [Lauer] was soft on Trump. Well now, the new person’s going to try and be really hard on Trump just to show the establishment what he can do. So, I think it’s very unfair what they’re doing. I think we should have a debate with no moderators, just Hillary and I sitting there talking.’ ”

The Commission on Presidential Debates announced its most diverse slate of debate moderators on Sept. 1, including “NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt, who is African American, to moderate the first of four presidential debates, and Elaine Quijano, a CBS News correspondent who is Asian American, to moderate the vice presidential matchup.

"Democracy Now!" reported from the scene of Native American protests of the planned Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. (Credit: Democracy Now!)
“Democracy Now!” reported from the scene of Native American protests of the planned Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. (Credit: Democracy Now!)

Arrest Warrant Issued for ‘Democracy Now!’ Host

“A reporter from Democracy Now! who documented security personnel with guard dogs working for Dakota Access Pipeline is facing criminal trespassing charges in Morton County,” N.D., Amy Dalrymple reported Saturday for Forum News Service.

“Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for Amy Goodman of New York for a Class B misdemeanor, according to court documents.

“Goodman, a reporter for the independent news program, can be seen on news footage from Sept. 3 documenting the clash between protesters and private security personnel with guard dogs and pepper spray at a Dakota Access construction site, including footage showing people with bite injuries, a dog with blood on its mouth and a dog attacking a horse.

“The video footage has been widely cited by people who have since criticized the use of dogs by the security personnel, including the American Civil Liberties Union of North Dakota. The report also went viral online and was re-broadcast on many outlets.

“ ‘This is unacceptable violation of freedom of the press,’ said Goodman in a statement. ‘I was doing my job by covering pipeline guards unleashing dogs and pepper spray on Native American protesters.’ . . .”

Cynia Davis, 5, became part of the Chicago Tribune's series on gun violence, "The Next Day." (Credit: Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Cynia Davis, 5, became part of the Chicago Tribune’s series on the aftermath of gun violence, “The Next Day.” (Credit: Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

Despite Killings, Neighbors Get On With Their Lives

“Cynia Davis, 5, directed her mother to fill her slushie with equal parts red-, white- and blue-flavored ice Wednesday afternoon at Jimmy’s Food and Deli,” (scroll down) reads the caption on one of Brian Cassella’s photographs for the Chicago Tribune. “She squeezed a lid on the frozen drink, stepping out with her grandma past a shattered glass door. Two groups exchanged gunfire Tuesday evening in front of the store at 35th and Prairie, wounding four people and killing bystander Christan Barlow, 52.

“The intersection is in view of Chicago police headquarters two blocks west. A security guard and young customer were standing at the front when they heard shots.’ A little girl got done getting her slushie or something,’ clerk Kenneth Graham recalled. ‘When he heard it, he moved her out of the way. She was about to open the door.’ Bulletproof glass stopped the shot, leaving radial cracks.”

One by one on Monday, Cassella showed photographs and texts he’s been writing for a Tribune series called “The Next Day,” meant to show what happens the day after gun violence hits another piece of Chicago. Sometimes, he said, “people get to know their neighbors a little better. ”

His audience was the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Associated Press Media Editors News Leadership Conference in Philadelphia.

“Yesterday, these blocks were homicide scenes,” his series begins. “The day after a fatal shooting, police tape is gone and residents live, work and play. More Chicagoans are shot and killed than there are days in the year, but there’s a lot going on in our neighborhoods around the violence. Tribune photojournalist Brian Cassella explores the next day. . . .”

Cassella, 33, a seven-year Tribune employee, told the convention workshop that he had been to 250 homicide scenes in the last year and a half, often between other assignments. He is white and said people of color often assume he is a police officer, a reporter or a city worker. “Chicago’s so segregated,” he said. He added that colleagues told him that a young black man doing his job might be taken for another gang member. “It’s better to stand out,” he said.

Jeremy Gorner, Peter Nickeas and Liam Ford reported Monday for the Tribune, “With the weekend toll of eight killed and 35 wounded, Chicago surpassed another dreaded milestone in a year that has seen the worst violence in two decades. As of early Monday, at least 3,028 people had been shot, more than the 2,980 for all of 2015, according to data collected by the Tribune. Last week, Chicago topped 500 homicides after tallying 481 all of last year, according to the Tribune data. . . .”

Cassella told the journalists, “I don’t know how long the project can go on.” Given the unabated violence, “It could go on forever.” His photos are at <http://www.chicagotribune.com/nextday>.

Also at the conference, Trif Alatzas, editor and publisher of the Baltimore Sun, accepted two awards for the Sun’s coverage of last year’s unrest after the death of Freddie Gray in police custody.

As the Sun reported on March 25, ASNE announced that the Sun staff won the association’s Breaking News Writing Award and Community Service Photojournalism Award.

Police Go from Stop-and-Frisk to Stop-and-Spit

“Over the last decade, collecting DNA from people who are not charged with — or even suspected of — any particular crime has become an increasingly routine practice for police in smaller cities not only in Florida, but in Connecticut, Pennsylvania and North Carolina as well,” Lauren Kirchner reported Monday for ProPublica.

“While the largest cities typically operate public labs and feed DNA samples into the FBI’s national database, cities like Melbourne [Fla.] have assembled databases of their own, often in partnership with private labs that offer such fast, cheap testing that police can afford to amass DNA even to investigate minor crimes, from burglary to vandalism.

“And to compile samples for comparison, some jurisdictions also have quietly begun asking people to turn over DNA voluntarily during traffic stops, or even during what amount to chance encounters with police. In Melbourne, riding a bike at night without two functioning lights can lead to DNA swab — even if the rider is a minor. . . .”

Arab American News Bemoans Post-9/11 Atrocities

“Fifteen years have passed since the planes hit the towers in New York,” the Arab American News, based in Dearborn, Mich., editorialized on Thursday.

“Beyond the immediate tragedy, the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 gave birth to the disastrous ‘war on terror.’ A decade and a half and multiple wars later, the world is a far more dangerous place.

“On the second anniversary of 9/11, the United States had been in Iraq for six months. Then, seven in 10 Americans falsely believed that deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

“Hussein was a secularist who was viewed as an enemy by al-Qaeda-type groups. As a matter of fact, Osama Bin Laden turned against the United States because he was not given a chance to fight Hussein after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1991. He thought the U.S.-led coalition in the first Gulf war violated the Holy Land of Hijaz by operating from Saudi Arabia.

“As former Secretary of Treasury Paul O’Neil revealed in Ron Suskind’s book ‘The Price of Loyalty’, George W. Bush was planning the Iraq invasion as early as February, 2001, seven months before the attacks.

“Bush employed lies to turn 9/11 into a catalyst for his neoconservative aims. He used the tragedy to push his ideological agenda on the people of the world, setting in motion the violence and terrorism that would ravage the Middle East and target Western cities from Paris to Brussels to San Bernardino.

“President Obama won a Nobel Peace Prize in his first year in office, but unfortunately, he followed in his predecessor’s footsteps, albeit through different tactics. . . .”

The editorial concluded, “On the 15th anniversary of 9/11, our hearts go to the victims of the attacks, not only the thousands of innocent New Yorkers, but also the subsequent millions of atrocities of the War on Terror.”

Irving Washington Named ONA Executive Director

Irving Washington, deputy director of the Online News Association, has been named to succeed Jane McDonnell as executive director, effective Jan. 1, the association announced on Monday.

Irving Washington
Irving Washington

“In his current role, Irving serves as a key contributor to short- and long-term planning and strategy, responsible for operations and programming,” the  announcement said.

“Since joining ONA in 2011, he has managed ONA’s highest-profile initiatives, including the $1M Challenge Fund for Innovation in Journalism Education, served as point person for all logistics for ONA’s annual conference and has grown the organization’s critical diversity and professional development programs.

“ ‘After a thorough search process, it was clear that Irving was the best choice to help us write ONA’s next chapter,’ said Joshua Hatch, ONA Board President. ‘His background, knowledge, passion and professionalism are unmatched, and all of ONA will be the beneficiary of his leadership.’ . . .”

Short Takes

  • Juan Rodriguez
    Juan Rodriguez

    Juan Rodriguez, most recently assistant managing editor of the New York Post, has been named editor of the Monday paper, Chris O’Shea reported Friday for FishbowlNY. According to his LinkedIn profile, Rodriguez “managed paper’s coverage of some of the biggest news stories in recent times, including the election and re-election of Barack Obama, the death of Osama Bin Laden and the Yankees’ 27th World Series victory.” Rodriguez joined the Post in 2000 as a business copy editor/designer and rose to assistant news editor, night editor and assistant managing editor. He was previously news editor at the Saratogian in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

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1 comment

richard September 15, 2016 at 7:12 am

Comments from The Root:

Yambu Tutu

We are being set up for another 4 years of division and obstruction in government. Hillary knows better than to make a statement like that. After Obama statement about bibles and guns you would think no one would go that route again. Why does she get this praise as being so great. You would think that she brokered a peace between Israel and Palestine. She sucks as a candidate and I’m not sure what she’d be as President. The democrat party is a joke. I was considering voting against Trump, but now I’m just about convinced that worrying about a bogeyman Republican administration is simply kicking the can down the road for another generation to confront. Might as well see just how far these “deplorables” will go, and deal with it for once and for all. I’ll probably be voting for Green Party candidates. At the least you get the chance of getting a different result. All those who agree with her statement, but at the same time don’t recognize that class is closely tied to race are just not being consistent in their thinking. Isn’t it about time Black people acknowledge the merits of socialism? Can Black people seriously be about freedom and justice and blindly support the current capitalist dominated system that now exist?

Bernard Hubbard

@Yambu Tutu Amen brother Tutu. That is the very reason, why I am voting Green as well. At least we will be helping to build up 3rd party alternatives to the Dem-Repub duopoly. This won’t benefit us immediately, but will pay dividends in the long run.

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