18 Jan 2011 NPR Double Standard: Taxpayer Funds Pay for Racist Rant
Soon After Juan Williams Firing, Black Conservatives Question Subsidies for Divisive Rant Recalling Arizona Shooting
Washington, D.C. – Project 21’s Jerome Hudson is calling for an end to all National Public Radio subsidies in light of NPR’s broadcast of a racialist rant on January 12.
The broadcast of Hispanic activist Daisy Hernandez featured derogatory racial language.
“Hernandez’s comments and NPR’s poor decision to air them highlights a hypocrisy at NPR,” said Project 21’s Hudson. “That, and the separatism voiced in the Hernandez essay, nightmarishly blur the lines between legal and illegal immigration. NPR, in airing it, effectively perpetuated America’s racial divide.”
In the January 12 segment, titled “Across America Latino Community Sighs With Relief” featured on the program “All Things Considered,” Daisy Hernandez, a writer on race and politics for the New York Times, Ms. and ColorLines, said:
It’s safe to say there was a collective sigh of brown relief when the Tucson killer turned out to be a gringo. Had the shooter been Latino, media pundits wouldn’t be discussing the impact of nasty politics on a young man this week — they’d be demanding an even more stringent anti-immigrant policy. The new members of the House would be stepping over each other to propose new legislation for more guns on the border, more mothers to be deported, and more employers to be penalized for hiring brown people. Obama would be attending funerals and telling the nation tonight that he was going to increase security just about everywhere.
In short, the only reason the nation is taking a few days to reflect on the animosity in politics today is precisely that the shooter was not Latino…
I admit sadly that it was only after I saw the shooter’s gringo surname that I was able to go on and read the rest of the news about those who lost their lives on Saturday and those who, like Representative Giffords, were severely wounded.
“Gringo” is a derogatory racial term for white people. Wikipedia, for example, categorizes the term under “ethnic and religious slurs” and “pejorative terms for people.”
“Hernandez’s comments show a complete disdain and contempt for the rule of law, but what is most offensive is that her comments offer not even a hint of sympathy or concern for those suffering unparalleled loss in the country she wants others to be able to access illegally,” said Project 21 Chairman Mychal Massie. “NPR’s willful silence thus far is an acceptance of and essentially support for Hernandez’s reprehensible remarks. It condemns them forever to being the mouthpiece for surreptitious vitriol as long as it is directed at conservatives and associations their representatives disapprove of. It is a tragic display of disrespect, and — in light of what happened to Juan Williams less than three months ago — NPR staff should be ashamed of this unambiguous and duplicitous double standard.”
Hudson added: “If her use of a racial slur wasn’t bad enough, Daisy Hernandez’s lack of concern for the bereaved families and the injured only add to the pain. The question that should be asked here is: Why is NPR’s damaging left-wing reporting still being subsidized by the American taxpayer?”
Project 21, a leading voice of black conservatives since 1992, is sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research (https://nationalcenter.org).
-30-