From their stance on guns, to opposition to illegal immigration, to alleged code words, the Tuesday cast of Inside Politics on CNN declared that white people need “to come to terms with” their role in the Buffalo mass shooting. It was also alleged that America does not denounce white supremacy enough.
Towards the end of a panel discussion recapping President Biden’s speech in Buffalo, senior political analyst Nia-Malika Henderson tied guns to white supremacy:
You know, it has been the story of our time. It has been the story of America, these sort of twin cultures, not only gun culture, but also white supremacist culture as well. And gun culture in some ways being used to reinforce white supremacy as we saw in — in this instance in Buffalo. And as we've seen in other instances. El Paso, in Pittsburgh, in Charleston as well, a few years ago.
Henderson also declared white supremacy to be so popular that it could define one of two Americas:
Biden was talking about two Americas here. He talked about the ordinary African-Americans… going about their daily lives, at a grocery store. That is one America. And the other America, the kind of racism that has coursed through the country for decades, and hasn't been denounced enough. Hasn't been rooted out enough. You know, oftentimes it is African-Americans who talk about racism. It is really a white cultural problem that white Americans have to come to terms with. Why is it that African-Americans and brown and black people more generally are seen as the other or demonized so easily in a lot of our politics?
The idea that white supremacy is not denounced enough is absurd. If anything, it has become trivialized, as Henderson immediately demonstrated, “You know, we, sort of, talk about white supremacy, but it's also the ways in which people talk about folks coming across the border. The demonizing that goes around, about those folks about, that somehow they also are a threat to Americans.”
Host John King then brought the segment to a close with allegations of covert white supremacy, “There are a lot of people who say that they're not racist. They've never said a racist thing who use words that are code.”
Alluding to something to something chief political correspondent Dana Bash mentioned earlier, King declared, “You mentioned silence encourages this. So do certain words and certain actions as well and so the president asking everybody to think about what you say. We'll see if that happens.”
If “silence,” from white people had a role in Buffalo, does not mean silence from environmentalists are also to blame for Buffalo?
This segment was sponsored by HughesNet.
Here is a transcript for the May 17 show:
CNN Inside Politics with John King
5/17/2022
12:43 PM ET
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON: You know, it has been the story of our time. It has been the story of America, these sort of twin cultures, not only gun culture, but also white supremacist culture as well. And gun culture in some ways being used to reinforce white supremacy as we saw in—in-- this instance in Buffalo. And as we've seen in other instances. El Paso, in Pittsburgh, in Charleston as well, a few years ago.
You know, Biden was talking about two Americas here. He talked about the ordinary African-Americans, many of whom came to Buffalo fleeing racial violence. You think about the ways in which the northern black towns came to existence, a lot of those folks were fleeing oppression in the South only to be met with oppression and racist violence in these northern cities, going about their daily lives, at a grocery store. That is one America. And the other America, the kind of racism that has coursed through the country for decades, and hasn't been denounced enough. Hasn't been rooted out enough. You know, oftentimes it is African-Americans who talk about racism. It is really a white cultural problem that white Americans have to come to terms with. Why is it that African-Americans and brown and black people more generally are seen as the other or demonized so easily in a lot of our politics?
You know, we, sort of, talk about white supremacy, but it's also the ways in which people talk about folks coming across the border. The demonizing that goes around, about those folks about, that somehow they also are a threat to Americans.
JOHN KING: There are a lot of people who say that they're not racist. They've never said a racist thing who use words that are code. You mentioned silence encourages this. So do certain words and certain actions as well and so the president asking everybody to think about what you say. We'll see if that happens. We'll be right back after a quick break.
