Michael Eric Dyson appeared on CNN’s ‘Wolf’ Monday. Courtesy CNN.
President Obama is set to arrive in Dallas Tuesday to console a city torn by the deaths of five officers at the hands of African-American war veteran Micah Johnson.
According to the White House, Vice President Joe Biden will accompany Obama to an interfaith memorial service to be held at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center located in the city’s arts district.
First lady Michelle Obama as well as former president George W. Bush and Laura Bush are expected to attend the ceremony, where the president will deliver remarks before meeting personally with loved ones of the fallen and injured to “express the nation’s support and gratitude for their service and sacrifice,” the advisory read.
At least one scholar is disappointed with the timing of the visit.
Georgetown University professor Michael Eric Dyson criticized the president’s failure to include the cities that inspired the Dallas march in his scheduled trip.
“I would have preferred him go to Louisiana, then on to Minnesota, then end in Dallas, because he could truly bring…healing to the nation,” Dyson said on CNN’s “Wolf” Monday. “He’s got to acknowledge the lethal and ferocious assault upon that police department there in Dallas, and he’s got to acknowledge the lethal and ferocious assault upon Black men’s and women’s lives in America.”
Conservative news organization Brietbart.com posted the interview to its site Monday and the backlash was immediate.
The comments section was full of personal attacks and threats to the podcast host.
From Dan L, “In a just world, idiots like Tyson [sic] and Van Jones are “repatriated” back to their ancestral homes.”
ResistandRebel
SorrowfullSoros
Other users focused their rage on shooting victims Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.
Certain Judgment: “Two black thugs getting shot for defying police orders while being apprehended for armed robbery and other crimes does not constitute a “lethal and ferocious assault upon black men’s and women’s lives in America.”
shominy2000
Trench Warfare
Though Dyson is long known for being one of the president’s strongest defenders, in his latest book, “The Black Presidency: Barack Obama and the Politics of Race in America,” the MSNBC analyst attacked Obama for his perceived hesitance to act or speak on issues affecting the Black community except in the most extreme circumstances.
“When he is boxed into a racial corner, often as a result of black social unrest sparked by claims of police brutality, Obama has been mostly uninspiring: he has warned (black) citizens to obey the law and affirmed the status quo,” Dyson writes.
