Posted on August 21, 2009

Black Activists Hit FOX News Where It Hurts–Its Wallet

Devona Walker and ColorOfChnage.org, The Loop, August 19, 2009

The minority-run ColorOfChange.org is campaigning against the ultra conservative commentator Glenn Beck. They have persuaded more than 20 advertisers including CBS, Wal-Mart, LexisNexis-owned Lawyers.com, Procter & Gamble and Progressive Insurance to pull their ads.

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We have watched FOX News attack President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and Black America. Bill O’Reilly called for the death of murdered abortion doctor George Tiller only months before his death. Remember, too, it was the FOX-owned New York Post who printed the monkey cartoon. It was also FOX News who lashed out against Hurricane Katrina evacuees, arguing they were to blame for an increase in homicides. Yet, the network tried to cover up the incompetence of the Bush administration that led to the deaths of many Blacks in New Orleans.

FOX News has been veiling racism with conservative values for years. {snip}

Folks have criticized Blacks for being unengaged in the political process, for allowing things to happen to us, and whining. But in 2008, we increased our votes by two million people, to 64.7 percent–on par with white America and nearly 20 percent higher than other racial minorities. And now, it’s Black activists who are trying to silence the radical racism and race-baiting on the far right so the grown folks can get back to debating policy.

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{snip} The birthers phenomenon makes it pretty clear. The heart of the birthers argument is a xenophobic and racist one. Folks are so distraught over having a Black president that they embrace a theory that’s been clearly debunked.

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The endgame is to reduce the size of Beck’s platform and force FOX and other cable news organizations to pull back from the brink.

In terms of the term “racist.” It appears that Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, etc, folks many minorities would feel epitomize the word racist, are the ones who keep throwing the word around. {snip} [This strategy is] brilliant and they need to be called out on it. They’re pulling the teeth out of the term–basically accusing anyone who is talking about race and, in their mind, not being fair, as a racist. White people don’t feel equipped to challenge them (impaired by our society’s general fear and inability to talk about race), and the Black folks who could push back have yet to find a platform on par with theirs to do so.