In the last few months, MSNBC had to fire Alec Baldwin for shouting anti-gay slurs at a photographer on the street. It also had reluctantly to fire Martin Bashir for vile comments he made on his show; those comments were scripted, so they were no accident. Now comes the turn of Melissa Harris Perry. In a really unbelievable moment, Perry used her show to make fun of the baby adopted by one of Mitt Romney's sons and his wife. The baby, you see, is black, and the Romneys are white. For Melissa Harris Perry, this was all that she needed to mock Romney, the baby and the Republican party.
Personally, I don't care if some host on a weekend MSNBC show mocks Romney or Republicans. The show is probably watched only by a truly tiny audience and even they would understand the source. It is unforgivable, however, for the show to mock a baby, particularly on the grounds of race. Do we really still live in a country that is willing to accept people on television making racial comments because parents of one race adopt a child of another? I hope not.
In thinking about this stupidity by yet another MSNBC host, I started wondering if this was the equivalent of what Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty said about homosexuality. I don't think so. Robertson expressed the view that gay sex was a sin. It is a standard belief of Christianity. It is also a standard belief of Judaism and Islam for that matter. Robertson also said that it was not for him to judge gays; that would be left to God. And he said it in an unscripted response to a question in an interview. He used some coarse language, but there was no mistaking what he said. Melissa Harris Perry and her panelists spoke in a prepared segment on her show. The comments were pre-planned. She belittled a family for adopting a child of another race. What's next? Will she start mocking New York City mayor elect Bill DiBlasio because he has a black wife? Are all mixed marriages and families somehow to become the object of scorn and derision? Is it one of Harris Perry's core beliefs that the mixing of the races is a bad thing? Is she some kind of a throwback to the Jim Crow South?
Melissa Harris Perry has the right to say what she said. Now, MSNBC has the right to fire her. And it should.
Personally, I don't care if some host on a weekend MSNBC show mocks Romney or Republicans. The show is probably watched only by a truly tiny audience and even they would understand the source. It is unforgivable, however, for the show to mock a baby, particularly on the grounds of race. Do we really still live in a country that is willing to accept people on television making racial comments because parents of one race adopt a child of another? I hope not.
In thinking about this stupidity by yet another MSNBC host, I started wondering if this was the equivalent of what Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty said about homosexuality. I don't think so. Robertson expressed the view that gay sex was a sin. It is a standard belief of Christianity. It is also a standard belief of Judaism and Islam for that matter. Robertson also said that it was not for him to judge gays; that would be left to God. And he said it in an unscripted response to a question in an interview. He used some coarse language, but there was no mistaking what he said. Melissa Harris Perry and her panelists spoke in a prepared segment on her show. The comments were pre-planned. She belittled a family for adopting a child of another race. What's next? Will she start mocking New York City mayor elect Bill DiBlasio because he has a black wife? Are all mixed marriages and families somehow to become the object of scorn and derision? Is it one of Harris Perry's core beliefs that the mixing of the races is a bad thing? Is she some kind of a throwback to the Jim Crow South?
Melissa Harris Perry has the right to say what she said. Now, MSNBC has the right to fire her. And it should.
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