Dear friend.
This weekend, days before the second anniversary of the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, a white supremacist carried out yet another mass shooting. This time in El Paso, Texas. We are horrified that yet another act of mass white supremacist violence has been carried out. We must continue to hold those who enable this violence accountable.
It comes as no surprise that the shooter’s white supremacist manifesto is built around talking points that can be heard nightly from Fox News’ Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson. Ingraham and Carlson routinely engage in grossly dehumanizing generalizations about migrants, uplift statements from white supremacists such as Richard Spencer, and even defend neo-Nazis on air. Free speech has been abused to allow room for hateful ideology to take a mainstage. White supremacist ideology inspired by Trump, and echoed by these Fox News media personalities, has once again taken form by the way of violence, highlighting the need for advertisers to demand these peddlers of white supremacist propaganda be removed from the air. It is time advertisers stop enabling Fox News hosts who serve as representatives for white supremacist ideologies.
Over the past year Fox News has railed against immigration and sensationalized migration as an invasion of America — hateful actions that inspired this weekend’s act of mass violence and the contents of the El Paso shooter’s manifesto. Just minutes before the violence, channeling Trump's anti-Black, anti-immigrant, and anti-Jewish rhetoric, the manifesto was posted on 8chan, a message board that serves as a breeding ground for white supremacy and that has been reported to celebrate public, and harmful displays of hate.
Online, 8chan gives hateful ideologies a place for analysis and indoctrination, and networks such as Fox News amplify these ideas and share them with millions — and the cycle of hate, violence, and indoctrination continues. Trump, Tucker Carlson, and Laura Ingraham have blood on their hands. The concept of free speech has been skewed and scapegoated to allow hate to fester.
White supremacist violence continues to manifest across the country, fueled by Fox News hosts pumping white supremacist ideologies across the airwaves. As a consequence, real lives are at stake. Already, we’ve seen historically Black churches and civil rights training centers burned down, and lives across the country have been taken by white supremacists during the Charleston, South Carolina, church massacre; the murders and shootings at synagogues in Pittsburgh and Poway, California; and the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
We must stand in solidarity with the families of the victims of these horrible crimes and demand advertisers drop "Tucker Carlson Tonight" and “The Ingraham Angle."
Act now.
Until justice is real,
Brandi, Rashad, Arisha, Evan, Johnny, Future, Eesha, Samantha, Marcus, FolaSade and the rest of the Color Of Change team
References :
- “At least 31 killed in US weekend mass shootings,” CNN, August 5, 2019, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/162763?t=6&akid=34799%2E1942551%2EvcBcy5
- “How Fox News pushed propaganda about the El Paso mass shooting,” Media Matters, August 4, 2019, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/162764?t=8&akid=34799%2E1942551%2EvcBcy5
- “Who said it : The El Paso shooter or Fox News ?” Splinter, August 4, 2019, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/162765?t=10&akid=34799%2E1942551%2EvcBcy5
- “Minutes before El Paso killing, hate-filled manifesto appears online,” New York Times, August 3, 2019, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/162766?t=12&akid=34799%2E1942551%2EvcBcy5
- “El Paso shooting suspect’s manifesto echoes Trump’s language,” New York Times, August 4, 2019, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/162767?t=14&akid=34799%2E1942551%2EvcBcy5
- “Man accused of burning Black Louisiana churches charged with federal hate crimes,” Vox, June 13, 2019, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/162768?t=16&akid=34799%2E1942551%2EvcBcy5
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With Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham on air, hate speech has two nightly platforms on Fox News.
Tucker Carlson, host of Tucker Carlson Tonight, recently launched into a racist hate fueled monologue against Rep. IIhan Omar calling her “a living fire alarm” for being a Black, immigrant, and Muslim Congresswoman fighting for our country to live up to its ideals. Tucker also made grossly dehumanizing generalizations about immigrants that would get most users banned from social media platforms. Smears like this are ripped directly from white nationalist talking points to otherize, paint us as threats, and engender violence towards Omar and Black migrants.
Advertisers should not be underwriting this hate speech. We've stopped advertisers from funding hate on Fox before, and we're going to do it again. Demand advertisers drop "Tucker Carlson Tonight" and “The Ingraham Angle."
Fox News Laura Ingraham recently defended white supremacist Paul Nehlen and dismissed the ongoing debate surrounding reparations for descendants of slaves with inflammatory coded remarks copied straight from white supremacist Richard Spencer. According to Laura Ingraham’s justification for the 250 years of brutal exploitation of Black people, white people “won,” and Black people “lost.”
Ingraham explicitly told the world that America is a white nation, white settlers have triumphed, and Black people must deal with the resulting exploitation. Mythologizing the brutality and impact of slavery, and promoting mysgynistic anti-immigration racism should not be a depiction of American news.
Ingraham and Carlson have made careers providing on-ramps for hateful ideologies. These two are much more than a foil characters in political theater. They are consistent political voices who scapegoat class theory to push hateful, racist remarks. Carlson and Ingraham’s comments are a chilling reminder of the power of media and the speed at which it can disrupt positive change and silence productive and progressive discourse. Allowing Tucker Carlson or Laura Ingraham to continue to broadcast hate speech on a national platform is not enabling freedom of speech, but promoting a dangerous ideology that has taken the lives of many within US borders.
It is time advertisers stop enabling political pundits who serve as representatives for white supremacist ideologies.
Until justice is real,
Brandi, Rashad, Arisha, Evan, Johnny, Future, Eesha, Samantha, Marcus, FolaSade and the rest of the Color Of Change team
References :
- “Tucker Carlson’s Racism Is Not “Political,” GQ, December 19th, 2018, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/151123?t=23&akid=34799%2E1942551%2EvcBcy5
- “Laura Ingraham on Reparations : "It's Called Conquest … We Won, You Lost, That's That,” Media Matters, June 20, 2019, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/149866?t=25&akid=34799%2E1942551%2EvcBcy5
- “Laura Ingraham Ranting about Reparations Sounds a Lot Like White Supremacist Richard Spencer,” Media Matters, June 21, 2019, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/149867?t=27&akid=34799%2E1942551%2EvcBcy5
Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. Help keep our movement strong.
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