Baltimore Councilman to CNN Host: ‘Just Call Them N--gers’

[SummerSnow]

http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2015/04/baltimore_councilman_to_cnn_host_just_call_them_ni_ers.html?wpisrc=topstories

Carl Stokes did not agree with CNN’s Erin Burnett that the “bad actors” in the Baltimore protests should be called thugs.

Baltimore City Councilman Carl Stokes clashed with CNN’s Erin Burnett Tuesday evening after Burnett asked if “thugs” was not the appropriate word to use when describing the “bad actors” of the Baltimore protests.

Burnett pointed out that Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and President Barack Obama also used the word to describe the individuals involved in the disorder.

Stokes vehemently disagreed. “No, of course it’s not the right word to call our children thugs. These are children who have been set aside, marginalized, who have not been engaged by us. No, we don’t have to call them thugs.”

“But how does that justify what they did?” Burnett countered. “I mean, that’s a sense of right and wrong. They know it’s wrong to steal and burn down a CVS and an old person’s home. I mean, come on.”

“‘Come on’?” Stokes retorted. “So calling them thugs—just call them n--gers. Just call them n--gers.

“No. We don’t have to call them by names such as that. We don’t have to do that,” the councilman continued. “When you say ‘come on,’ come on what? You wouldn’t call your child a thug if they did something which was not what you’d expect them to do.”

Burnett, for her part, said that she “would hope” that she would call her son a thug “if he ever did such a thing.”

--BY: BREANNA EDWARDS
Posted: April 29 2015 12:06 PM



*who voted for this asshole*

[Oktober]

1. Sensationalist headline...

[bravenak]

2. The look on her face said exactly what he said.

She would hope she would, blah blah blah. Bullshit. She'd talk about what a really good kid her son was and that she was getting him help. Period. She'd never go on tv and do a segment on her son the thug.

[B2G]

3. These weren't just children causing the destruction

There were plenty of grown ass people involved.

Thugs is appropriate for that element. I don't care what color their skin is.

[Ohio4theWin]

4. Looters and arsonists are angelic confused children

Any other term is racist.

[cyberswede]

5. Oy veh.

[shenmue]

55. Enjoy your stay

[cyberswede]

6. Isn't he saying that the host might as well call them the n-word if she's going to call them thugs?

That's how I read it, anyway.

[bravenak]

7. Yep.

[B2G]

8. What do you call individuals

Who loot and set fire to a store that locals patronize and work at?

[bravenak]

10. Pissed off.

No need to find a label to put on them. They already have enough labels. They are sad, miserable, poor, black, overlooked, underfunded, labeled, despised, forgotten, beat down, abused, lied to, crapped on, jacked up against a wall, fatherless victims of the drug war, judged, fined, kicked...
Why do you feel the need to call those desperate souls names? Are their lives not harsh enough for you yet? Call them what you will, but at least you noticed them. Finally they got noticed.

[B2G]

16. And making excuses for blatant criminal behavior

does them no favors.

I honestly couldn't work up any outrage over the looting. They are poor, desperate and have limited opportunities. Looting in such circumstances always fails to get my BP up.

The arson, however, I can't find an excuse for. Probably because there is no excuse.

[Ohio4theWin]

19. Personal responsibilty is so passé

And 'protesting courageously and yet with dignity' is for a bygone era. It's not about the greater cause, it's about me.

[bravenak]

20. Those are reasons.

Just like the stupid sports riots that white upper class kids do. Really ain't no logic to the fires, tho. When the college kids do it, it's celebrating and burning cop cars and couches and small buildings get set on fire. When these kids do it, it's rage and burning cop cars and looting and setting buildings on fire. These kids have more reasons to burn shit that the white college celebrants, but they get much more judgement and name calling. Separate and unequal judgements. Same actions. Better reasons, tho.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

21. Hmmm... those "white kids" are never referred to as "thugs," tho.

And they are almost always never just kids, either. They are adults, young and old. But they are never referred to as "thugs". Not like us colored folk are.

"Thug" is just another code for the N-word when white people can't say the N-word. Richard Sherman called it right when he said it.

[bravenak]

23. Thug means nigge% to me.

And the venom people use it with says more about them that the so called thug. Sad to see people fighting tooth and nail to get to keep calling black men that. It's like when old white folks just couldn't let the right to call us gal and boy and nigge& go, when I was young. Funny how they use it in the exact same ways and save it for blacks, just like the other word before. I suspect some think we're all too dumb to notice.

[Scootaloo]

28. That's EXACTLY what it means

It was appropriated from "gangsta rap" as a sort of 'acceptable alternative." Started out with 'thug culture" to refer to anyone in a dew rag and sagged pants, but once the fashion caught on with white kids, that dropped like a hot potato. Now it's just 'thug' applied pretty much exclusively to black and brown people.

[bravenak]

39. Remember Thug Life?

That tattoo scared the crap out of people back in the day. I remember folks worrying about a Thug Army. Lol! Thug was a very convenient word when they couldn't use nigge😄.
White kids are 'troubled teens'.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

29. I don't know which is more offensive--the word itself or insulting our

intelligence.

Pretending that we don't know what they mean by the use of this coded language or actually using the intended language?

Hell, I'd rather them call me what they really want to call me rather than the feigned ignorance. Treating us as if we're stupid and don't know what they mean is the very height of arrogance and a true display of white supremacy and racism.

[bravenak]

37. I'd rather they just be straight up, myself.

All those word game are silly. Everybody knows what they mean.

[1StrongBlackMan]

47. And exactly the point Stokes was making. n/t

[bravenak]

48. Funny how some pretend they don't get it. They get it.

[Dont call me Shirley]

24. The main cause of all this rioting is police are killing black people at will. Wouldn't you be

pissed if the cops were killing your family members for sport?

[AuntPatsy]

52. Very well written...

[bravenak]

53. Thank you very much.

[99Forever]

11. Pissed off at being killed at will by out of control pork.

[Ohio4theWin]

12. A senior housing center was burnt to the ground as well.

don't forget that.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

31. I think you're a troll and you need to be very careful.

[Ohio4theWin]

42. Having a different viewpoint doesn't equate to troll

Calling a group on black men standing on corner or protesting, thugs, is racist, IMO. Calling looters and arsonists thugs is not, IMO. My viewpoint, not trolling.

[NuclearDem]

46. No, being a troll equates to troll.

[NuclearDem]

25. Looters and arsonists.

[Ohio4theWin]

26. Hooligans is the term used in Europe, is it racist?

Or just a term used to describe those people who participate in those activities?

[NuclearDem]

30. Is there a reason you so desperately want to use a racist dog whistle term?

Looters and arsonists work just fine.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

32. Yes. It's a troll and I'm very close to alerting.

[Ohio4theWin]

35. I don't agree with your opinion that's it's racist, does that make me racist?

Does it make Obama racist?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2015/04/29/obama-white-house-baltimore-stephanie-rawlings-blake/26585143/

[NuclearDem]

40. ...

[bravenak]

41. Lol!

[1StrongBlackMan]

49. Because you won't like him us the other word ...

he/she most desperately wants to use?

[Scootaloo]

34. is it used by a majority-brown European media to denigrate minority-white people?

[ArcticFox]

14. Yes

[pnwmom]

17. That's exactly how I read it. n/t

[Bobbie Jo]

18. That's how I read it too. nt

[Dont call me Shirley]

22. That's how I read it, swede.

[Monk06]

50. Thug is the predominate dog whistle word for AAs and Hispanics now. It's the word Freepers use

because they can't get away with using spic and nigger. Not yet anyway although they can't wait.

The RW is chafing at the bit for the day the ERA is repealed and they can get back to Jim Crow again.

This woman is correct. To say thug is just to say nigger. They are synonyms. Like calling a native american Hiawatha.

Just to prove my point I just went to Freeperville and here's the title of a Baltimore thread, hot off the presses.

Charm City Thuggery Update (Live Thread)

[shenmue]

54. That's what I thought

[LanternWaste]

9. It's odd that after tens of thousands of years, we still expect that the oppressed

It's odd that after tens of thousands of years, we still expect that the oppressed, the poor and the marginalized have a responsibility to to make a civil and rational response to those who consistently marginalize them.

Humanity, though often crafty and consistently clever, is short-sighted and has some serious memory issues.

[951-Riverside]

13. +1

[Hutzpa]

15. Very good ananysis, I should also add

threads like these are meant to flamebait, post and run posters to stir up shit which is adding no contribution to the conversation but
to provide division.

[Dont call me Shirley]

36. I think it's collective PTSD, just keep returning to the trauma. We keep unconsciously returning

to the trauma in order to heal it, but returning to the trauma causes acting out, which causes more trauma. Unless we can begin to heal our collective trauma our memories will store the trauma where it is forgotten, in the unconscious. Then we continue acting out and not knowing why. This causes blame-shift which never can solve the traumatic problem.

We need global trauma remediation.

[Vinca]

27. I heard this "thug" debate on MSNBC a little while ago.

A woman claimed no one ever calls the cops thugs. I would disagree. Thugs is about the nicest thing I've called them lately. Usually preceded by words that begin with M and F. "Thugs" is not a replacement for the "N word" by any stretch of the imagination. We all know the people in the streets are upset and they've got good reason to be upset. But the ones torching buildings and looting businesses are not "troubled youth." They're thugs.

[HassleCat]

33. Avoid That Word

Ever since the Trayvon Martin shooting, "thug" has been a code word for "ni**er." We can argue about the origin of the word "thug," it's dictionary definition, the context in which it's used, and so on. The problem is, when we hear "thug," we form a mental picture of a young black man, with his pants jacked down, wearing a hoodie and prowling the streets looking for trouble. So let's avoid this word and leave it to the people who like to provoke a certain reaction and then claim, "What? Who? Me? Why some of my best friends are thu... ah... I mean black."

[Dont call me Shirley]

38. Stokes is correct, thug is the new Luntzian therm for n-word.

Probably coined by Frank himself, laughing all the way to the media boardroom.

[wheniwasincongress]

43. Sensationalist headline and article

misleads people to believe he's an "asshole"

[jwirr]

44. Isn't he saying that to call them "thugs" is the same thing as calling them "n---ers?

[Barack_America]

56. Yeah. Seems pretty obvious to me.

I'm confused by the confusion.

Black = thug = n---er

White = troublemaker = hooligan

[jwirr]

57. Yes, and all bad.

[Half-Century Man]

45. My take on it.

A privileged fairly clueless talking head pressed the AA council member from the district damaged to participate in marginalizing an unknown portion of the people he was elected to represent. She invited, cajoled him to use the word the right wing hate machine has adopted to replace "ni***r" in public.
The council member, who is taking time away from doing his job of public service to talk to her, declines to call any of his constituents the new ni***r; understanding that without knowing who specifically was responsible, he would be calling every AA in his ward "thug" by proxy. Not only will he not join in, he will openly challenge the new way of spewing the old hate by exposing it to the light.


My only problem with Councilman Stokes is he made Hannity, Limbaugh, Doocy, Ailes, Rove, and Kimeade cum in their pants. I'm against thing which make them smile.

[bluestateguy]

51. Erin Burnett is a vapid little spoiled brat

Not someone I would take seriously.