MSNBC Contributor: More White Kids Must Die Before We Understand Racism

In light of a jury finding George Zimmerman not guilty of murder or manslaughter over the weekend, the folks over at MSNBC are becoming even more unhinged than usual. Monday during a panel on NOW with Alex Wagner, MSNBC contributor, fill-in host and Georgetown Professor Michael Eric Dyson suggested America won't understand racism until more white children are killed. Via

Twitchy:

So now we get more approximate to the truth of what race is in this country. As for Eric Holder, look: the reality is you gotta act now. The president, you won the second term. You’re in office. You are ensconced. Do something courageous, bold, and helpful. Not only to African American people but to America. Because unless we do this, white Americans and others will feel that this was a justifiable verdict, this is how things happen. Not until, and unless, the number of white kids die that approximate the numbers of black and other kids who die, will America see. It’s beyond logic. It’s about rationality. It’s about let’s get something done. I think the attorney general will look at this and I think it’s time for him to act.”

There's just one huge problem with this whole thing outside of how offensive it is: the George Zimmerman-Trayvon Martin case had zero to do with race according to the jury that acquitted him. Not to mention, Zimmerman is Hispanic who helped mentor and care for black children inside his home.

The George Zimmerman trial was not about race and the Florida neighborhood watch volunteer was justified in firing the shot that killed Trayvon Martin because he feared for his life, one of the jurors told CNN on Monday.

Juror B-37, a mother of two who grew up in a military family and used to have a permit to carry a concealed weapon, said she did not believe Zimmerman racially profiled the unarmed black teenager when he called police to report a suspicious person.

"All of us thought race did not play a role," the juror told Anderson Cooper in an interview with her identity concealed.

Hello XXXX,

My name is Guy Benson, and I’m the Political Editor of Townhall.com in Washington, DC. I was hoping to get a comment from MSNBC management about whether or not contributor Michael Eric Dyson will face any disciplinary action or sanctions for a statement he made on Thursday’s Martin Bashir show regarding Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas:

“A symbolic Jew has invited a metaphoric Hitler to commit holocaust and genocide upon his own people.”

I recall that the network suspended Mark Halperin in 2011 for referring to the president as “kind of a dick” on air. Is Dyson’s remark considered less inappropriate? Thank you for your assistance with this.

He was ignored.

I haven’t received any response from MSNBC. To my knowledge, Dyson has not been disciplined in any way.

I remain keen on discovering why Halperin’s 2011 comment was deemed worthy of an indefinite suspension, whereas Dyson has apparently gotten off scot free here. It couldn’t have anything to do with MSNBC’s documented and overt bias, or its aggressive descent into non-news, could it?

UPDATE – Twitter points out that NBC News effectively did render a judgment on Dyson’s performance. He was rewarded with a plum panelist slot on the network’s signature Sunday news program, Meet the Press. His appearance was vintage Dyson, natch.

I won't hold my breathe waiting for MSNBC to do something about the "more white kids must die" comments. In the meantime though, police are investigating a beating in Baltimore where a witness says he heard "This is for Trayvon."

Baltimore police say they are investigating a witness account that a group of black youths beat a Hispanic man near Patterson Park Sunday while saying, "This is for Trayvon."

A witness posted the account on a community Facebook page, and police confirmed they are looking into whether the suspects' reaction to the verdict in the Florida trial of George Zimmerman played a part in the incident. A police report on the beating does not mention the alleged comments.