Friday’s CNN Tonight came up with several comparisons for Governors Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis sending 50 migrants to Martha’s Vineyard and none of them were good. Host Laura Coates compared the governors to segregationists while theGrio White House correspondent April Ryan cited the debunked scandal where border patrol agents were said to have whipped migrants with horse reins.
Coates kicked off the segment by trying to give viewers a history lesson, “they echo something that happened some 60 years of our past. Back to something called the ‘Reverse Freedom Rides.’ And maybe you've never heard of what this is. You certainly heard of Freedom Riders, right? But the Freedom Rides in the Reverse, were Black families who were tricked by white supremacists. They were lured by the promise of a job or a better home and they were bused to Hyannis, Massachusetts, right near John F. Kennedy's holiday home.”
Those victims would be Americans who were uprooted from their homes under false pretenses. These migrants are from outside the U.S. and even if they are granted asylum, they likely would not all have settled down in Texas.
However, not only did Coates compare Abbott and DeSantis to segregationists, she argued they could be considered even worse, “Now, the numbers, racked up by Governors Abbott and DeSantis put the segregationists of that dark period, well, frankly, to shame in the numbers alone. Now, the Reverse Freedom Riders, they tricked about 200 people into getting onto a bus. 199 or maybe even 200, far too many. While today's Republicans have moved more than 9,000 people, and are promising more.”
Later in the segment, Ryan declared the alleged cruelty to be the point, “And that's the point. Every time we see these issues of inhumanity to migrants, there's always a serious discussion, and then it falls off. As we've said, the situation is broken. But let's not just leave it here at Joe Biden. Let's go back to the prior president. What happened? People in cages.”
Not only was the idea that cages were somehow unique to Trump debunked, so was another pseudo-scandal that Ryan mentioned next,” What happened? Then, what was it last year? The reins used a whips. A bluster then.”
After referring to the “inhumanity” of the move, Ryan continued, “You know, you're sending people to an enclave, an enclave with multimillion dollar homes and there's no infrastructure to keep them.”
If Martha’s Vineyard had a hard time with 50 migrants, how does Ryan think border towns deal with numbers much larger than that?
This segment was sponsored by 4imprint.
Here is a transcript for the September 16 show:
CNN Tonight
9/16/2022
9:21 PM ET
LAURA COATES: Look, the scenes we're seeing in Martha's Vineyard strike, frankly, too familiar a chord. One people - one person hearing in Washington D.C., and New York, and in a bus after being stranded, people in the middle of Chicago, as well. It's really all over the country.
And they echo something that happened some 60 years of our past. Back to something called the "Reverse Freedom Rides." And maybe you've never heard of what this is. You certainly heard of Freedom Riders, right? But the Freedom Rides in the Reverse, were Black families who were tricked by white supremacists. They were lured by the promise of a job or a better home and they were bused to Hyannis, Massachusetts, right near John F. Kennedy's holiday home.
Now, the numbers, racked up by Governors Abbott and DeSantis put the segregationists of that dark period, well, frankly, to shame in the numbers alone. Now, the Reverse Freedom Riders, they tricked about 200 people into getting onto a bus. 199 or maybe even 200, far too many. While today's Republicans have moved more than 9,000 people, and are promising more.
…
APRIL RYAN: And that's the point. Every time we see these issues of inhumanity to migrants, there's always a serious discussion, and then it falls off. As we've said, the situation is broken. But let's not just leave it here at Joe Biden. Let's go back to the prior president. What happened? People in cages.
ASHLEY ALLISON: That's right.
RYAN: People in cages. The inhumanity about that. There was a bluster about that. What happened? Then, what was it last year? The reins used a whips. A bluster then.
COATES: For the Haitians, who were under the bridge?
RYAN: Yes, yes.
ALLISON: Yeah.
COATES: In the Florida-Texas region—
RYAN: Yes.
COATES: --Texas region, excuse me.
RYAN: Inhumanity, once again. The story that you had? I mean, the immigration issue in this country is older than I am old. And we still continue to get upset. But where is the fix? And now, what's happening? You know, you're sending people to an enclave, an enclave with multimillion dollar homes and there's no infrastructure to keep them. There's no—
COATES: Well that's their--.
RYAN: Right. And—
COATES: The point was to - the point really was, it felt like, here is a - here is a place, wasn't just Chicago, any longer, or New York City, where it was bigger.
RYAN: It wasn't a city with infrastructure.
COATES: It wasn't a city - you're right.
RYAN: Six towns. Six towns. But the issue is the bluster happens, and then it dies off. The system is broken. And the people, who are impacted, are people who are underserved, who need help, and who are seeking asylum, for whatever reason, looking to this country for help. And yet, they're being used as pawns.
