Hume Defends Racist Remarks
Reported by Janie - July 12, 2006 -
Last night (7/11) on "Special Report with Brit Hume", Hume used his "Two Minutes of Hate" (AKA "Grapevine") segment to promote racism on behalf of Republicans, by misrepresenting and twisting the words of the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain in order to defend him, while attacking the ACLU.
Hume opined,"The ACLU is demanding that a Louisiana lawman retract what it says are 'overtly racist' remarks, denouncing his call to question young African Americans walking the streets "with dreadlocks and 'chee wee' hairstyles," as a civil rights violation.
But St Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain, who is white, says he was merely engaging in basic police work when he made the statements on local TV — since he's trying to find two suspects in a quadruple murder case who match that description.
Still, the ACLU accused Strain of engaging in racial profiling of Katrina evacuees from New Orleans, and says ACLU officials will meet with local NAACP leaders to discuss their concerns."
Comment: First of all, Hume is attempting to trash the ACLU, based on the STATEMENT made by the Sheriff, a Republican, as though his word is gospel. Notice the use of the word "Still", as though all the Sheriff has to do is come up with a defense, and he should be in the clear.
Secondly, Hume is not providing the whole quote to the viewers. What Strain actually said was, "Now I don’t get into calling people names and all that fact, but if you’re gonna walk the streets of St. Tammany Parish with dreadlocks and "Chee Wee" hairstyles, then you can expect to be getting a visit from a sheriff’s deputy." The video of these comments can be viewed here.
Not once does the Sheriff mention any sort of case, and Hume ignores the portion of the quote where Strain says "if you're going to walk the streets" with these sort of hair styles, you "can expect to be getting a visit from the sheriff's deputy". As though the hairstyles themselves were a crime.
Hume also neglects to mention that there are clients behind the case the ACLU is filing. In fact, the clients are Nazarene Christians who wear dreadlocks as a religious requirement. I guess the Republicans only want rights for one type of Christianity.
Hume completely misrepresented the Sheriff's comments and took him at his word, merely because he is a Republican, and Fox will defend every Republican's right to be a racist.
