Reacting to Saturday’s racially-motivated mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York grocery store, Monday’s CBS Mornings Insisting on inflicting fear upon viewers’ hearts and minds, “racism is mainstream,” “nowhere is safe,” And “nothing feels safe” with gun violence ready to break out and kill you at a moment’s notice. To counter this, Eric Holder was tagged as Obama Attorney General and suggested that they take a look at Section 1.
So long as the press maintains their free speech, it’s to heck With everyone else’s, right?
Co-host and Democratic Party donor Gayle King reacted to the network’s coverage from Buffalo by saying she “still can’t imagine how this young man at 18 had so much hate and it’s not just against blacks” as Asians, Jewish people, and “LGBTQ [are] under attack” with “racism…no longer on the fringes”However “mainstream”American Life
For those who don’t pay attention, this would be a subtle slap at Americans who are right of center.
After King said it’s all “very, very, very scare to me,” co-host Nate Burleson argued that “we have to admit that” such mass killings are “as American as apple pie, the sport we watch, and the hot dogs we eat at those games.”
Vladimir Duthiers, fill-in host and co-host of the show, did his job but told viewers to fear their surroundings. “[N]Nowhere is secure. Strawberry picking is not possible at a grocery shop. You can’t go to a concert, can’t go a movie, can’t go to school, can’t go to a place of work, synagogue, a church.”
“Something needs to be done,”Burlson also added.
King — who makes $11 million and whose best friend Oprah Winfrey never left home for 322 days out of a fear of COVID-19 — peddled more fear by arguing that life’s “like a Russian roulette no matter where you are” With “nothing feel[ing] safe to me.”
Burleson warned again of doom and stated that all races would be destroyed. “is at our doorstep.”
King agreed: “Very, very scary and I think people are tired of saying, let’s be strong. Tired of being strong.”
Two segments later, racial arsonist Benjamin Crump appeared (and already on the ground in Buffalo) and, along with demanding an “anti-black hate crime bill” to be passed, called for anyone and everyone who “curat[ed] this hate” and “radicalized these young white supremacists to be “[held] accountable.”
King reiterated she’s afraid of most places before turning to the fact that police took the suspect alive. In response, Crump lamented that he’s still alive and wasn’t executed like he claims happens to Black people when dealing with police (click “expand”):
KING: Yeah. I think — I think, Ben Crump, we’re all afraid of that. It doesn’t appear that you are safe in the supermarket, church, spa, movie theatre, or at concerts. We now have a male in custody. How do you feel about the young man’s arrest?
CRUMP: You know, it — Gayle, so many times we talk about unarmed young people of color being killed, but yet when you have these young, confirmed white mass murderers, they also seem to be taken alive. This leads us to have a deeper discussion about our approach to social issues and especially race. These internet websites that encourage hatemongery and hatred of people based on their skin color should be our focus.
Holder appeared at the start of the 8:00 a.m. Eastern hour and, along with his standard, boilerplate rhetoric, opened the door to a “conversation” about free speech. King agreed with Holder and lamented the fact that she “believe[s] in First Amendment rights, too, of course, but” Congress has to be there “to do something about” online rhetoric (click “expand”):
HOLDER: It is also important that we have a dialogue. I’m not sure how that gets structured — people who run social media companies. These people are often the ones who spread a lot hate. It is through their — their platforms that people get radicalized and so, coming up with ways in which they use the technology that they have to kind of identify people, stop the spread of this kind of hateful information. I think if you do all of those kinds of things, you perhaps can get — start to get a handle on this serious problem.
KING Although we say we care, I don’t see where the outrage from people urging the leaders to take action. Of course, I support First Amendment rights. But it comes — First Amendment rights comes with some responsibility. I never — that always seems to be missing to me in this conversation.
HOLDER: The interesting thing Gayle is that people are speaking in poll after poll. These people indicate they would like background checks to be done before any person can purchase a gun. The frustrating thing is that, because of gerrymandering within the state legislatures in particular, it is difficult for the people to have the policy they want.
CBS’s fearmongering and peddling of racial divisions was made possible thanks to support from advertisers such as Cadillac, Neutrogena, and Subaru. Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant CBS transcript from May 16, click “expand.”
CBS Mornings
May 16, 2022
Eastern, 7:15 AMGAYLE KING: I was struck by what Mr. Ali said in Tony’s piece that it’s haunting. At 18 years old, I can’t believe this young man had such hatred for blacks. The Jewish community is under threat, you know.
VLADIMIR DUTHIERS
KING: The LGBTQ community is being attacked, but the Asian Americans are also under threat. Racism has moved beyond the margins.
NATE BURLESON : Yes.
KING: Racism has become mainstream, and it is extremely, very, very frightening to me.
BURLESON: This company — I mean, this country, excuse me —
KING: Yeah.
BURLESON: — this country is under attack. Five mass shootings —
KING: Yeah.
BURLESON: — since Friday?
KING: Yeah.
BURLESON, Gun violence has American roots. This is evident in the sports we love and the hot dogs that we enjoy at these games. That is something we have to acknowledge.
DUTHIERS – And no place is safe. It is not possible to go to the grocery store and pick up strawberry slices. You can’t go to a concert, can’t go to a movie, can’t go to school, can’t go to a place of work.
KING: No, I heard —
DUTHIERS Synagogue is a type of church.
BURLESON: We need to do something.
KING: I heard somebody in Buffalo — you’re right, Nate. This is the kind of story you’d see in other places, but not here in Buffalo. But now ours is — it is like a Russian roulette no matter where you are.
BURLESON, It is right at our doorsteps.
KING: I don’t feel safe.
BURLESON: Yeah.
KING: It’s very, very frightening and people have grown tired of hearing, “Let’s be strong!” We are tired of being strong.
BURLESON: Yeah.
(….)
Eastern, 7:42 AM
BENJAMIN CRUMP: We must hold this person accountable for his hateful acts, as well as those responsible for creating this hatred and radicalizing these young white supremacists. That manifesto said that his intention was to kill all black people that day. The young white supremacist Dylan Roof was seen in Charleston, South Carolina. Now, we are in Buffalo, New York. Is it possible to pass the anti-black hate crimes bill before long? We must do more, Nate, Gayle. I fear that something similar will happen in the future.
KING: Yeah. I think — I think, Ben Crump, we’re all afraid of that. It doesn’t appear that you are safe in the supermarket, church, spa, movie theatre, or at concerts. We now have a male in custody. How do you feel about the young man’s arrest?
CRUMP: You know, it — Gayle, so many times we talk about unarmed young people of color being killed, but yet when you have these young, confirmed white mass murderers, they also seem to be taken alive. This leads us to have a deeper discussion about our approach to social issues and especially race. These internet sites are causing young people to become hatemongers and people of hateful skin colors.
(….)
Eastern, 8:05
BURLESON, Unfortunately hate crimes like those described by Tony are growing in America. California State University San Bernardino’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism found that hate crime rates have gone up by 26% in 16 U.S. Cities. Eric Holder, a former U.S. Attorney General joins us. The battle for voting rights is the subject of his new book, Our Unfinished March. Good morning. Mr. Attorney General —
ERIC HOLDER – Good morning.
BURLESON: — why do you believe hate crimes are climbing up in this country?
HOLDER: Well, you know, this is something that has inflicted — has afflicted this nation almost since the beginning of our country as a republic. As we witness demographic changes, economic instability, and rhetoric emanating from our political parties, this is something that has increased in the recent years. These are all the kinds of things that I think give rise to this kind of — this kind of hate part of our history as well as the current political environment in which we find ourselves.
KING. So, here we sit today, Mr. Holder. Everyone is searching for answers. We are currently in a painful, disgusting, and often frustrating cycle that Steve Hartman described as “mourn, pray, repeat”. We’ve heard this story. We all know the ending. The cycle will go on. Can anything be realistically done about it? The Newtown school shooting that killed all the children was committed under your supervision, as it were, during the Obama administration. Everyone thought that this was the end. This is the tipping point. This is the turning point.
HOLDER: Yeah. HOLDER: There are common-sense things we could do. We would have done more after Newtown if our leaders had listened to us. The American people support safe, regular and normal gun control measures. These need to be in place. A domestic terrorist statute is something we should consider, especially considering the rising number of hate crimes. This must be drawn so that people can exercise their First Amendment rights. The ATF must be able to perform a wide range of regulatory tasks. First, we must confirm Steve Dettlebach to be the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms’ head. Then, I believe, we should have a discussion. I’m not sure how that gets structured — people who run social media companies. These people are often the ones who spread a lot hate. It is through their — their platforms that people get radicalized and so, coming up with ways in which they use the technology that they have to kind of identify people, stop the spread of this kind of hateful information. I think if you do all of those kinds of things, you perhaps can get — start to get a handle on this serious problem.
KING Although we say we care, I don’t see where the outrage from people urging the leaders to take action. Of course, I support First Amendment rights. But it comes — First Amendment rights comes with some responsibility. I never — that always seems to be missing to me in this conversation.
HOLDER: The interesting thing Gayle is that people are speaking in poll after poll. These people indicate they would like background checks to be done before any person can purchase a gun. We see that gerrymandering, especially in state legislatures, makes it difficult for people to make their own policy. People in these — representatives in these safe — these gerrymandered seats can do things consistent with the desires of the gun lobby, inconsistent with the desires of their constituents. Yet, their electoral outcomes are not affected.
BURLESON: Yep.
HOLDER
BURLESON – Eric Holder, we are grateful.
KING: It’s so frustrating.
BURLESON – Gayle, you’re correct about this.
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