During an interview with journalism professor Connie Schultz, wife of Democratic Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell horrendously wondered if “white people” were “capable” of “grieving for the loss of a black child.” Schultz argued more people were examining the state of race relations due to the “racist administration” of President Trump.
The segment began with Mitchell eagerly reading from Schultz’s latest syndicated column, entitled, “Shhh, White People, Listen”:
...Schultz writes about the funeral of Tamir Rice, in Cleveland, back in 2014. The 12-year-old black boy was holding a toy gun when he was killed by a white police officer. She writes, “I heard and saw plenty of outrage from white residents, and I had expected to see many of them at his funeral. The harder truth was that many white people didn’t feel the loss of Tamir Rice in a personal way. They were sad that an innocent child had died, but from a distance. Tamir was somebody else’s boy, some other community’s tragedy. Six years later, here we are, still witnessing with alarming regularity the deaths of unarmed black Americans. Six years later, here we are, as white people, still struggling with how to grieve.”
Turning to her guest, Mitchell asked this shockingly offensive question: “Connie, I had a question when I read that, are white people grieving? Are they capable, in large numbers, of grieving for the loss of a black child, a black woman in her bed, in Louisville?”
Mitchell and Schultz, both white, seemed to exempt themselves from the horrible implication.
In fact, Schultz lectured: “I think we should be capable of this grief. When we stop thinking of our fellow black Americans as suffering in the black community rather than our community, when we start seeing these as our losses, too, the grief bubbles up automatically and it can consume us.”
The left-wing columnist then predictably attacked President Trump: “I think the biggest difference is for the most unfortunate of reasons – we’ve been living with three and a half years now of a racist administration, and it’s just one racist assault after another after another. And so we have finally gotten the attention of a lot more people.”
Mitchell followed up by wondering if there was “a greater level of empathy now, do you think, in the white community, for what black people have experienced, the terror of their lives when their sons, their partners, their husbands, go out as to whether or not they’re even going to be able to return to be alive?”
Again, Schultz turned the topic into a partisan smear of Trump:
Perhaps white Americans, more of us, are starting to understand this is our problem, too, and we came to that realization because Donald Trump is certainly our problem. And, again, I think we have to acknowledge how much of an impact his influence is having, first of all, on people’s – there are so many attacks on black people right now and Latinos, too, and more attacks on the LGBTQ community, all of this is flowing from the top.
To suggest that white people are incapable of grieving the death of a black child, or any person of any ethnic group, is truly despicable. These kinds of nasty, racially-charged indictments of whole groups of people by the media have to stop.
Here is a transcript of the June 12 segment:
12:40 PM ET
ANDREA MITCHELL: George Floyd’s death has shaken the world, becoming a symbol for social justice and police reform in a way that no other single race issue has. In an article entitled, “Shhh, White People, Listen,” syndicated columnist Connie Schultz writes about the funeral of Tamir Rice, in Cleveland, back in 2014. The 12-year-old black boy was holding a toy gun when he was killed by a white police officer. She writes, “I heard and saw plenty of outrage from white residents, and I had expected to see many of them at his funeral. The harder truth was that many white people didn’t feel the loss of Tamir Rice in a personal way. They were sad that an innocent child had died, but from a distance. Tamir was somebody else’s boy, some other community’s tragedy. Six years later, here we are, still witnessing with alarming regularity the deaths of unarmed black Americans. Six years later, here we are, as white people, still struggling with how to grieve.”
Joining me now is Connie Schultz, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and a professional-in-residence in the journalism school – professor-in-residence, I should say – at Kent State University. Connie, it’s great to see you. And her new novel is The Daughters of Erietown.
CONNIE SCHULTZ: Thank you.
MITCHELL: Connie, I had a question when I read that, are white people grieving? Are they capable, in large numbers, of grieving for the loss of a black child, a black woman in her bed, in Louisville? Or is there something different this time because they witnessed 8 minutes and 46 seconds of a murder?
SCHULTZ: I think we should be capable of this grief. When we stop thinking of our fellow black Americans as suffering in the black community rather than our community, when we start seeing these as our losses, too, the grief bubbles up automatically and it can consume us. I think the biggest difference is for the most unfortunate of reasons – we’ve been living with three and a half years now of a racist administration, and it’s just one racist assault after another after another. And so we have finally gotten the attention of a lot more people.
But I still am longing for more voices. One of the reasons I say “be quiet white people,” is that we are not the experts now, right? We are not the ones who are going through this in the same way, no matter how much we empathize. And I particularly long to hear from more black mothers and grandmothers. My bias is automatic, I live in the city of Cleveland, and these are the women I see – until the virus hit – I see them, I’m shopping at the grocery store with them, I’m standing in line with them at the pharmacy, and for years we’ve been talking about how afraid they’ve been for their children and their grandchildren.
MITCHELL: And is this time different as well because people are experiencing it through social media? Is there a greater level of empathy now, do you think, in the white community, for what black people have experienced, the terror of their lives when their sons, their partners, their husbands, go out as to whether or not they’re even going to be able to return to be alive?
SCHULTZ: Well, Tamir Rice, the video of his being shot, he was 12 years old, as you know. It went viral, everybody had seen it. I’ll never forget what Samaria Rice, his mother, told me in an interview a year after his death. She regularly watched that video. And when she told me that, I had to ask, “Why would you keep looking at that?” And she said, “I keep trying to figure out, did he know? Did Tamir know what was about to happen to him?” Because he was playing with an air gun and within two seconds after the police pulled their cruiser up feet away from him, one of the officers, who should never have been hired, Cleveland later somewhat confirmed, shot him and he died hours later.
And I so often struggled why that wasn’t enough. And perhaps it is that we’re seeing more of it. Perhaps these videos are accumulating. Perhaps white Americans, more of us, are starting to understand this is our problem, too, and we came to that realization because Donald Trump is certainly our problem. And, again, I think we have to acknowledge how much of an impact his influence is having, first of all, on people’s – there are so many attacks on black people right now and Latinos, too, and more attacks on the LGBTQ community, all of this is flowing from the top. And perhaps Americans, there are so many good people in this country, of that I’ve never ever been in doubt, but more of them were understanding, if you don’t speak up now, your children and your grandchildren will know you differently and they will remember you differently. And perhaps that is where some of the people are now finding their courage.
MITCHELL: Well, thank you for your voice. I know you know as much as anyone about politics and the politics of Ohio through your husband Senator Sherrod Brown. But I’m also really eager, I just got the book, so I’m really eager to read The Daughters of Erietown.
SCHULTZ: Thank you.
MITCHELL: And we can talk about that on your next visit. Thank you very much.
