Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson followed the company's interesting tradition the other day by making one of the most distasteful and egregious comments in recent media history. Filling in for Sean Hannity, Carlson said that Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick should have been executed for dogfighting.
"I'm a Christian, I've made mistakes myself, I believe fervently in second chances," Carlson said. "But Michael Vick killed dogs, and he did in a heartless and cruel way. And I think, personally, he should've been executed for that. He wasn't, but the idea that the President of the United States would be getting behind someone who murdered dogs? Kind of beyond the pale."
First of all, I think that most decent Christians would not believe that Tucker Carlson is a Christian. But then again, most of the original members of the KKK also considered themselves to be Christians, so perhaps Carlson's delusional behavior actually makes sense. I'd be curious to see if Carlson believes that the hundreds of thousands of deer hunters and members of the National Rifle Association should also be executed for killing animals themselves. After all, killing an animal is the same no matter what, right?
Secondly, Carlson's insinuation that the life of this black man is worth less than that of a dog is a telling reminder of how the Right Wing is nothing more than a modern-day manifestation of those who've profited from slavery and the execution of black men for the past 400 years (they continue to profit from slavery within the prison system - the only place where the United States Constitution allows slavery to take place). If this were 1840, Tucker Carlson would surely be part of the lynch mob that would have dragged Michael Vick out of jail in the middle of the night and murdered him in front of his family. So, as much as "Tucker the Christian" might want to deny this, he is a direct descendant of those who've been responsible for the Black American Holocaust that we have yet to fully understand in our country. African Americans should have the same disdain for Tucker Carlson that Jews have for Adolf Hitler and his associates. The only difference between the descendants of Carlson and those of Adolf Hitler is that the first group has been able to benefit from good PR and the ability to control the historical message (history is told by the winners), but the truth is that in both cases, the lives of those in the subjugated class were deemed to be worth less than that of an animal. I would say that Tucker and Fox News should be ashamed, but in a country that has yet to honestly confront it's sick proclivity toward racial animosity, they stand proudly on a tragically-destructive tradition that continues to terrorize people of color until this very day.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition
posted by A.Moore
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Posted By: anita moore
Thursday, December 30th 2010 at 8:52PM
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