The lefty-catering Morning Joe took things up an insidious notch by addressing the racism supposedly running rampant and, to do so, they brought on authors of Do the Work! An Anti-Racist Activity Book, Kate Schatz and W. Kamau Bell.
A CNN documentary host, Bell is quite the anti-racism fighter, meaning he engages in racial arsonism, loves BLM, and other efforts that throw illogical, violent temper-tantrums. As we've shown over the years at NewsBusters, Bell's anything but a unifier. Here, this was the same guy who wrote an activity book “for all of the sides.”
MSNBC co-host Joe Scarborough had a copy of this “weapon of words” against racism, and read some of these activities: “You’ve got the separate, but not equal crossword puzzle, one I'm looking forward to. And actually, my kids and I are going to get around the table tonight and play bootstrapping the game.”
When asked about what the bootstrapping was, Bell explained: “Bootstrapping the game is about the myth of meritocracy in America, the myth about how we are all born with bootstraps and we can lift ourselves up, and some of us who look like me don't want to do that for some reason.”
And of course, it wouldn’t be Morning Joe without bringing up former President Trump, as Scarborough mentioned how “Democrats have a problem. They scold too much on a variety of issues and at times they need to mock Republicans more because that's actually how you get to people like Donald Trump.”
As perhaps the one show that's most emblematic of Washington, the irony meter broke seeing as how they constantly mock Republicans and Trump. Based on the size of their audience, they haven't been that effective in bringing along the rest of the country.
When talking about how the book came to be, Schatz said that both she and Bell have kids, so they thought, ‘“How can we communicate these ideas that a lot of people don't want to confront, don't want to think about? What about an activity book?”’
Because, other than miserable college professors and their equally despondent 20-somethings, even most adults don't want to take time out of their busy lives to do childish-sounding activities that teach things everyone already knows: judging people based on race is wrong.
Morning Joe staple Mike Barnicle addressed the “opposition,” asking Bell what people can “do as a nation when the other side has been working a little bit harder for a much longer time in opposition to what we're talking about here?”
As previously mentioned, Bell expressed that “this book is actually for all of the sides.”
He continued with these seemingly-open-minded words by adding “we are really trying to invite people to the table who feel like, 'I know something is wrong in this country but I can't quite put my finger on it' and people who went through the racial reckoning of 2020 and think that actually it worked.”
Columbia Journalism School Dean and New Yorker staff writer Jelani Cobb thought it would be funny to ask Bell “how many southern legislatures have pre-banned this book?” This prompted laughter with Bell joking that “the first page of the book, just to show you, is a giant poster that says, 'end white supremacy,' so I'm sure that’s going to be quite popular around many southern legislatures.”
When talking about the “target audience” once again, Bell exclaimed: “The target audience of this book is white people who see all the problems in the country and go, 'what can I doooooo, what can I dooooo?'”
He then answered his own question: “You can do the work.”
MSNBC's Way Too Early host and Politico correspondent Jonathan Lemire was also on hand and asked Schatz how this book “be helpful for, say, let's say young folks who want to be able to play a role in the political process next time around? How do you think this can help inform their thinking? “
This triggered a whole spiel about how “activism and change-making happen on a vast spectrum.” Just like gender according to lefties. As a reminder of how everything is existential for the left, Schatz added that “the time to get involved is now.”
Well, that was a lot to unpack for something so unnecessary. As for his takeaway from the book, Bell stated that he hopes people “actually get better at understanding racism.” If these lefties really want it to go away, maybe don’t bring it up every five seconds?
And how about calling out examples of hypocrisy on the left, like this from just hours after the show aired?
This example of lefty-catering was proudly supported by Esty and Golden Corral.
Click "expand" for the full transcript.
MSNBC’s Morning Joe
July 19, 2022
8:26:45 a.m. EasternMIKA BRZEZINSKI: Joining us now are W. Kamau Bell and Kate Schatz, they are the co-authors of the new book that’s out today entitled Do the work! An Anti-Racist Activity Book.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Do the work!
BRZEZINSKI: Do the work.
SCARBOROUGH: Do the work and some of them tongue planted firmly in cheek, you’ve got the separate, but not equal cross word puzzle, one I'm looking forward to. And actually, my kids and I are going to get around the table tonight and play bootstrapping, the game.
BRZEZINSKI: Oh my God.
SCARBOROUGH: What exactly is bootstrapping, the game?
W. KAMAU BELL: It is about -- bootstrapping the game is about the myth of meritocracy in America, the myth about how we are all born with bootstraps and we can lift ourselves up, and some of us who look like me don't want to do that for some reason.
SCARBOROUGH: Yeah, you know it’s interesting. I—I-- as a former Republican I always say that Democrats have a problem. They scold too much on a variety of issues and at times they need to mock Republicans more because that's actually how you get to people like Donald Trump. It seems that's exactly what you two are doing here, and I'm just wondering, how do you come up with this great idea? Who came up with the great idea?
KATE SCHATZ: You—truthfully, we both came up with it together. We both wanted to write a book together and when we sat down to brainstorm we both pitched an activity book. And that's in large part because we're both parents. So speaking of knowing that scolding does not always work, you have to find other ways to get your children or your audiences engaged with difficult ideas. And we were both home schooling, zoom schooling our kids during the pandemic and we thought, “how can we communicate these ideas that a lot of people don't want to confront, don't want to think about? What about an activity book?”
SCARBOROUGH: Yeah, you know it’s interesting. There's a -- Mike Barnicle, it is an old Bruce Springsteen lyric from "Blinded by The Light," "Hit them in the funny bone, that's where they expect it the least." That's exactly what this book is doing.
MIKE BARNICLE: Yeah, if you can lighten it up, you can get people into it—ahead of time. Kamau I want to ask you though, “Do The Work!”, the very title, what do we do as a nation when the other side has been working a little bit harder for a much longer time in opposition to what we're talking about here?
BELL: Well, I mean I would say the thing is first of all, this book is actually for all of the sides, for all of the sides. Because I think we have to really—we are really trying to invite people to the table who feel like “I know something is wrong in this country but I can't quite put my finger on it” and people who went through the racial reckoning of 2020 and think that actually it worked. And so what we're trying to say is that didn't work.
And we all-- those of us who are interested in the future of this country as a country, as a United States of America need to do the work and the only way you're going to keep -- there's books written by all these people like Jelani Cobb, there's shows, there’s movies. But really, you want people to do things like sit down, actually do some work, disconnect your brain from the scariness of it and go through this book and actually get better at understanding racism.
BRZEZINSKI: Well—Jelani, go ahead and jump in.
JELANI COBB: Well, Kamau, I do have a question for you, which is how many southern legislatures have pre-banned this book?
[Laughter]
SCHATZ: Well it just comes out today, so let's see in a few hours.
BELL: Exactly, it does, the first page of the book, just to show you, is a giant poster that says "End white supremacy." So I'm sure that’s going to be quite popular around many southern legislatures.
COBB: But I-- I do wonder about this, in all kind of seriousness, one of the things that happens is that people are really uncomfortable in talking about the subject matter. And I wondered if you have a kind of target audience for this or who you think the person who will pick this up will be?
BELL: I do have a target audience. One of the things that people who know my work know about me is that I'm married to a white lady. So, my target audience is my mother-in-law.
[Laughter]
My mother-in-law is a great person. She’s a great-grandmother, she’s awesome. She's also a person who went -- who like sewed the hats after Trump won, went to the march-- Women's March and is like, “how do I help?” really never thought about being an activist or anti-racist until the country got so clearly racist. But she doesn't know what to do. And so, she already asked my wife, “can I get four books for free?” because she's my mother-in-law that’s how she asked.
But yeah, so this is for—written for—we’re very clear—this book is written—the target audience of this book is white people who see all the problems in the country and go, “what can I doooooo, what can I dooooo?” You can do the work.
LEMIRE: Do the work. And Kate, obviously this is going to be -- the issues that the book addresses are going to be a backdrop to another presidential election which is going to be here before we know it. How do you see -- how can it be helpful for, say, let's say young folks who want to be able to play a role in the political process next time around? How do you think this can help inform their thinking?
SCHATZ: You know, one of the things we try to get across in this book is that activism and change-making happen on a vast spectrum. It looks like a lot of things, and I think so many of us feel like it just looks like one thing, right, it just looks like going to a march or a demonstration or making a sign or donating money or voting, right? And those are all pieces of a much larger puzzle.
So if anything, I hope that this book shows people the importance of doing one thing, doing a few things, but just doing something consistently on a regular basis.
So, the election is far off, also not that far off. So, for people who are concerned about the election, the time to get involved is now and there are so many things you can do, especially on a local level in your community to get involved.
And that's the kind of things we talk about in the book. You know, if electoral politics, if the election is what you are concerned about, again, start now. What’s on your ballot? What campaigns do you support? What campaigns do you not want to support? This is the time to get involved and do something.
