When your campaign is trailing in the polls and your ability to raise money is seriously hampered, there are certain things you should do and certain things you should not do.
Of the things you should do, making the following statement at an MTV/Myspace Forum is not one of them:
"...pretty soon we're not going to have a young African-American male population in America. They're all going to be in prison or dead. One of the two."
Who would make such a racially insensitive comment? Of all people, it was Democratic Presidential hopeful John Edwards and with that statement, there will be serious repercussions and those repercussions will be deserved.
What was Edwards inferring? In all honesty, only Edwards truly knows and more than likely he misspoke. However, he misspoke in an incredibly offensive matter. Consider the following: for a person to be arrested for a crime, they have to commit a crime. Examining the statement on a surface level, it would seem that Edwards' is saying ALL African-American men commit crimes. Regardless of what Edwards meant or did not mean, he needs to apologize for this statement and apologize immediately.
In addition to the Pandora's Box of criticism that Edwards has opened for himself, he has inadvertently opened a Pandora's Box for members of the far left media. Edwards' comments come on the heels of the bombardment of media coverage in the aftermath of Bill O'Reilly's (silly) comments about a primarily African-American restaurant in Harlem being just like white restaurants. Now, Edwards' comments are a million times worse and offensive and considering the condemnation O'Reilly received for his comments, the media either has to condemn Edwards to the same degree or face accusations that it is biased. The media can't pretend the comments didn't happen because talk radio and the internet have already reported on the incident. If certain media outlets opt to excuse Edwards' behavior, then all criticism that they leveled against O'Reilly goes out the window because they will be accused of bias and that certainly won't reflect positively on them.
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. I did not hear this comment, but will take your citing of it as true. I don't think it is insensitive. I see it as a comment on the prison industrial complex, the racism that still penetrates the criminal justice system and the causes and effects of poverty. You are completely wrong to say that you must have committed a crime to be arrested. Police can and do arrest on reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct and are afforded A LOT of discretion. If the standard for an arrest was proven guilt, there would be no need for a trial.
Erica R, Esq. at 1:19PM on Dec 2nd 2007