MSNBC is Color Blind?

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King gave his famous 'I Have a Dream' speech. The spirit of one of the most often quoted lines from this speech, has become one of the most ignored, at least by the American left.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

Occasionally however, the left leaning media demonstrates that they are capable of exercising actual color blindness. Well, sort of. When it suits the purpose of advancing the political agenda of the Democrat party, the MSM will engage in a lie of omission with respect to the ethnicity of some.

In 1996, University of California Regent Ward Connerly sponsored proposition 209 which amended the California state constitution to prohibit public institutions from considering race, sex, or ethnicity. The media in California ran stories focusing on the opposition to the measure and op-eds demonizing the proponents. The public was left with the distinct impression that prop. 209 was racist measure which would set minorities and women back decades. While carefully trying to shape public opinion against the measure, the media was equally careful not to publish any photos of the measure's sponsor, Ward Connerly.

The ruse was exposed when Jesse Jackson, who had come to California to lead the fight against 209, felt the need to offer a plausible explanation for his refusal to debate Connerly. Jackson explained that he did not wish young black men and women to become confused by the site of two black men debating the merits of affirmative action. Proposition 209 passed with 54% of the vote.

MSNBC attempted much the same deception on Tuesday. During the Morning Meeting program, Contessa Brewer ran a video clip which consisted of only of close up shots of the firearms being carried by a man at a pro-health care rally.

The video clip had been deliberately edited in such a way as to completely conceal the fact that the man in question was in fact an African American. Brewer said, "there are questions about whether this has racial overtones....white people showing up with guns." I imagine that the credibility of her words might have been diminished somewhat, if they had not edited the video.

During the segment, MSNBC pop culture analyst Toure argued: "...there is tremendous anger in this country about government, the way government seems to be taking over the country, anger about a black person being president....we see these hate groups rising up and this is definitely part of that."

I imagine that the man, whose identity is not known at this time, might not be to pleased with being colored (excuse the pun) as white, or of being associated with individuals who may be angry that a black person is President.

There is a reason why in a recent Basic Cable Network Rankings for prime time, Fox news is #2 and MSNBC is #24 out of 30 networks. I believe it is because when it comes to news, Americans have a preference for non-fiction.