Whenever a large number of African-Americans are expressing anger following yet another murder of an unarmed black man, woman, or child, one can only imagine the environment at Fox News. The chance to engage in some fear-mongering and race-baiting must be cause for a party!
The limited, yet horrible rioting that has erupted amid the mostly peaceful protests in Baltimore, Maryland have given Fox an chance to be more racist than ever, and the fake news corporation responded in a manner that, perhaps, made full use of the opportunity.
The Nightly Show’s Larry Wilmore pointed out that while CNN took an “awkward approach to handling these racial tensions,” Fox took “the racial approach to handle their awkward tensions.”
Wilmore played a series of clips that showed the news station firing off as many phrases that come as close to slurs as possible (without actually being slurs) as its hosts could muster.
According to one Fox anchor, it must be frustrating to “stand here and watch these thugs go thuggin’.” The word “thug,” of course, has become the “socially-acceptable” replacement for “n*gger” in right-wing media, in recent years.
“Thugs go thugging?,” Wilmore asked,. “What is that, the 13th day of Christmas?”
Wilmore then rolled a clip depicting African-Americans stealing from a liquor store, with a host ensuring to bring up “Colt 45.” The host was sure to add that those rioting were solely after the “free liquor.”
Fox was even certain to bring up the super strength that studies have shown (racist) white people attribute to darker-skinned individuals, with a claim that “these boulders” (black people) “hitting these cops” in Baltimore.
But what bothered Wilmore the most was Fox’s touting of a claim that black gangs had formed an alliance to take out police — an assertion that was quickly dismissed by gang members who did not want to be roped into the police narrative surrounding the unrest.
Allegedly, the Bloods, Crips, and the Black Guerrilla Family planned to do harm to police. “Between the Bloods, Crips, and Black Guerrillas, hmmm,” Wilmore mused. “Which one of these gang names do you think Fox likes to say the most?”
What followed was a barrage of “Black Guerillas” from the mouths of numerous Fox hosts in what seems to be a desperate attempt to freely refer to black people as primates without the risk of getting into trouble.
“F*ck you motherf*ckers, man,” Wilmore said. “Seriously. What kind of sh*t is that? That’s rolling off your tongues a little too gleefully.”
It’s the constant stream of racism and prejudice spewing from mouths of FOX anchors that does a great deal to dehumanize and demean African-Americans, making discrimination and disenfranchisment so much easier, and perpetrating dangerous stereotypes that lead to people like Freddie Gray getting killed. It’s a travesty that dares to call itself “fair & balanced”, when nothing could be further from the truth.
Watch the segment, below:
Featured image via Hulu