The Rev. Al Sharpton appeared on journalist Joy Reid’s MSNBC show and spoke about how the coverage of Donald Trump’s recent indictment on Fox News appears to be racist.
The Harvard graduate said that she was “impressed” with the levels of creativity her conservative counterparts have employed to dogwhistle their racially based biases.
The panel discussed how the Fox Trumper believed his arrest was a badge of honor that should be more appealing to Black voters. His arrest, in their eyes, would make him more relatable to their experiences.
Joy Reid speaks on an episode of her MSNBC show The ReidOut. (Photo: YouTube/ MSNBC)
Fox News host Jesse Watters said on the network’s “The Five” show on Aug. 25, “Black Americans online — some of them are saying I’m voting for Trump now because they too have sometimes felt they’ve been unfairly targeted by the criminal justice system.”
Watters: Black Americans online, some are saying I'm voting for trump now because they too have sometimes felt they’ve been unfairly targeted by the criminal justice system. pic.twitter.com/dlvbi7tD3K
While talking to show host Laura Ingraham, Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo said on Aug. 25 that he heard a “Black lady” say the former president is “gangsta” now that he has been arrested. Arroyo used this to validate his claims that the arrest gives Trump “cred among a new bloc of voters.”
The “gangsta” rhetoric spilled over into social media, with off-air talking heads tweeting that his mug shot might become an “iconic symbol” and posting comparisons between Trump and popular deceased rap star Tupac Shakur.
In the urban black community, a mug shot can be an iconic symbol, both of victimization and of greatness. It’s a defiant UP YOURS to “the man.” Think Tupac Shakur. Trump is now the ultimate gangsta in our culture pic.twitter.com/IwEzoEvggI
Reid probed the longtime civil rights leader on his feelings about the comments.
“Rev, you have been arrested protesting for rights. You have been arrested in civil rights marches. You’re a civil rights leader. You go back and think about people arrested in the 1960s. John Lewis’ mugshot is a badge of honor, but it was what he was arrested for. He was arrested in order to protest for people to vote and have civil rights,” she said, adding none of those noble reasons were why the former president was arrested.
According to the host, the Trump indictment where he was photographed for a mug shot was because he was accused of trying to “steal an election” through a “coup.”
“The idea that Black people, simply because he was arrested, are going to gravitate toward him, I actually — you know, it’s almost so creatively racist that I’m almost impressed that they have all come up with this, and on Fox, this is their new talking point,” Reid said in disgust. “They think Black people like criminals, and that’s what they think of Black folk.”
“They even think Atlanta is a giant criminal stew of the hood, and therefore any mural in Atlanta has got to be pro-Donald Trump and got to be Black people lining up to praise him,” she continued.
Sharpton said that this mindset at Fox is “part of the criminalization of Blacks.”
The National Action Network leader said many people who commentate on the rival network perceive Black individuals as criminals, assuming a tendency to align with criminal behavior.
In debunking that narrative, he said the reality is that the Black community’s support is extended to those believed to be unjustly targeted and unable to protect themselves.
He also said the issue lies in the historical lack of accountability for those who commit crimes against the Black community, pointing to the cases of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery as examples.
Sharpton assured Reid that there is a silver lining to how they are covering the former president’s indictment, jokingly saying, “If they raise a lot of money on his mugshot, with 91 counts, let’s see if they raise a lot of money when they put an orange suit on him if he is in fact convicted.”
Trump has been indicted several times, but most recently, in Georgia, he has had his mugshot taken by authorities, making him the first president to ever have one taken after serving in office.
His Georgia indictment hits the former POTUS with 13 counts of criminal felonies, including criminal racketeering under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act; soliciting a public officer to violate their oath; conspiring to impersonate a public officer; conspiring to commit forgery with false electors; conspiring to commit false statements; making false statements; and conspiring to file false documents.
