In the punditry game, compelling and unique points of view are currency. MSNBC host, columnist, and author Touré is among the best at articulating provocative and compelling points of view. Rarely do I find myself agreeing with him (though it has happened on more than one occasion), but I almost never find myself thinking that he has posited a thought that has little or no constructive value. This is one of those times.
On Monday, Touré excoriated conservatives – though he was not talking about conservatives, per se, but merely those who disagree with the assertions he was about to make – who have insisted that characterizing the murders of Delbert Barton and Chris Lane by primarily African-American teenagers represents the other side of the racial coin. Touré added that this “vile” tactic employed by conservatives is an effort to hijack and “damage the conversation” on race. This statement must be met with protest: conversations take place between two parties of relatively equal standing. What Touré appears to be advocating for is a one-sided lecture on race.
Touré opened his Monday monologue with a correct assertion: there is nothing beyond circumstantial evidence that suggests the murders of Barton and Lane had anything to do with race. He is also right that it is misguided for some conservatives to see these murders as an opportunity to score political points against a media which credulously reported that there was a racial element to the killing of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman.
RELATED: Fox’s Kirsten Powers: Does Jesse Jackson Have to Comment on Every Crime in the Country Now?
On Fox News Watch, Daily Beast columnist and Fox News Channel contributor Kirsten Powerscorrectly chided conservatives for calling on America’s civil rights leaders to speak out about the murders of Lane and Barton. “Do we now expect Jesse Jackson to comment on every single heinous crime that happens in the country?” she asked.
Touré cited Powers’ objections to attack conservatives, and the Republican Party (linked, though not synonymous), for adopting a “vile new tactic.” That is, to invoke Belton and Lane to engage in “signal jamming” to confuse and disrupt the sacrosanct “conversation on race.”
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