Letter to Wall Street Journal on Fox and Fox News

Below is a letter to the Wall Street Journal on Fox News. I wrote in response to a comment made by the WSJ black token, Jason Riley. The attempt to make the Reverend Jeremiah Wright the issue in Barack Obama's campaign for the presidency is a calculated campaign on behalf of these Rupert Murdock entities. It was up to the racist Sean Hannity to start this drumbeat on his show "Hannity and Colmes." Since then, Fox has made Reverend Wright the story on every show, every hour since last Tuesday(?). Then on Friday the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed piece by Ronald Kessler attacking Obama for having a relationship with Reverend Wright. This is reminiscent of it being treasonous in Mississippi for African Americans to state any opposition to Jim Crow. Throughout the history of African Americans any speech that sought "racial" justice was un-American. At the core of white nationalism is a "rightness of whiteness." In the same way that the South lived a lie for 300 years, Rupert Murdock's propaganda outlets are committed to promoting white nationalist hegemony. As sociologists committed to justice, we must do our part to have truth prevail and make this opportunity for a new politics in America be victorious. Barack cannot do it alone. We have to fight this propaganda war.

Also, understand that this is the same Rupert Murdock that supports Hillary Clinton
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/09/politics/main1600694.shtml?source=RSS&attr=HOME_16
RGN


To the Wall Street Journal on Fox News:

I was struck by Jason Riley's point that Barack Obama's mother would have been uncomfortable in Jeremiah Wright's church. Riley's commentary was so clairvoyant, so arrogant. I'd bet dollars to donuts Jason never laid eyes on Barack's mother, much less knows what she thought. First, one thing about Barack's mother is that she was not a white nationalist married to America's mainstream white nationalist ideas. She married not one but two men of color. She spent much of her life outside of mainstream white America. Second, since a large segment of Reverend Wright's congregation is white, who is Jason to conclude that Barack's mother would not have been apart of that congregation and comfortable with Reverend Wright's sermons?

My reading of Dreams From My Father demonstrates clearly what Barack is made of, his essence. He is no separatist. His biography has been one of a "uniter not the divider" and that is what scares right wing America, including WSJ. The major task of Fox News and the Wall Street Journal has been to lead to his defeat. It is important for you and your ilk to tarnish him and his transcendence of race. The mission of Fox and WSJ is to make him appear to be a separatist. Your mission to promote racism and white nationalism. Like the fascist right and the old Solid "white supremacist" South, it is your institutions that have promoted this guilt by association. Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and Jason ought to be ashamed of yourselves for PROMOTING division. It is interesting that the notion of responsible journalism is being dealt a death blow at the hands of Rupert Murdock. Should America miss this opportunity for a racial healing and a more just America, the "blood" will be on your hands. However, in reality it is well-known that spilling the racist blood is your major objective.

Robert G. Newby
Professor Emeritus
Central Michigan University