Quote of the Day - October 11, 2007

"He killed himself. Hip-hoppers do not kill themselves. They walk away."
- John Gibson on the October 10 edition of Fox News Radio's The John Gibson Show after learning that the high school shooter in Cleveland, Ohio was not Black.

Excerpts of transcripts of the show are provided by Media Matters:

GIBSON: Well, we have an inside look at the production of The John Gibson Show today because there was big news out in Cleveland, Ohio, and I teed it up saying, "What we have here is another example of hip-hop culture bringing murder and mayhem into the rest of our society."

Now, this was a terrible incident out in a school near Cleveland. It's called "SuccessTech." It's one of those alternative schools. Eighty-five percent African-American. Eighty-five percent. First thing you see when you see the pictures today is a whole bunch of black kids. Three teachers -- did it turn out to be three teachers or two?

ANGRY RICH: Three.

GIBSON: And three students shot. Now, all of the teachers and students that were shot were -- survive. The wounds are not serious. Well, I guess there's one of the teachers is in surgery and so forth, but they're all expected to live. The shooter committed suicide. This is one of the students who was shot in the elbow and, you know, was not seriously hurt, although he was shot.

GIBSON: Now why would there be guns in schools?

[audio clip -- 50 Cent's "Fully Loaded Clip"]

GIBSON: Well, that's my working theory, but, you know -- and, of course, because the school is very heavily African-American, I did leap to a conclusion.

ANGY RICH: What was that, John?

GIBSON: Well, that the shooter might have been African-American. Turns out it's a white guy.

[audio clip -- "Is Gibson wrong?"]

GIBSON: Gibson's not wrong. Gibson is not wrong. No, in the -- in years past, in the many of these shooting incidents that I've covered, you've always looked at things like video games, Grand Theft Auto, and desensitizing kids to shooting people and stuff like that, and all I can say is, "Hey, times change. We move on." All of a sudden, you know, the gun violence in the culture is coming at the kids from a different direction.

[audio clip -- 50 Cent's "Touch The Sky"]

GIBSON: Well, you know, you can't deny it. I mean, there's a gazillion of those things out there and the kids are listening on their iPods, and the kids listening on their iPods are not all black kids. Some white kids listen too.

ANGRY RICH: This kid was a Marilyn Manson fan.

GIBSON: He's a goth type.

ANGRY RICH: Yes.

GIBSON: So he wasn't picking up the hip-hop?

ANGRY RICH: I don't think so, John.

[...]

GIBSON: Angry Rich, you know why I knew that this -- through our afternoon of mystery wondering about the kid that was the shooter, I knew this was not a classic hip-hop shooting.

ANGRY RICH: How's that John?

GIBSON: He killed himself. Hip-hoppers do not kill themselves. They walk away. Now, I didn't need to hear the kid was white with blond hair. Once he'd shot himself in the head, no hip-hopper.

ANGRY RICH: So it's not a classic hip-hop --

GIBSON: It's not even close. I mean it's whatever he is, and it's clear to me that this gun culture right now primarily promoted by hip-hop music --

[rap clip]

GIBSON: "I bought a brand new gun today. I'm gonna shoot you in the face." This culture has even reached the school campus. We're not in the Kip Kinkel era of school shootings anymore; it has changed. Yes, I know the shooter was white. I knew it as soon as he shot himself. Hip-hoppers don't do that. They shoot and move on to shoot again. Triple-8, 788-9910. I know there's a few of you who want to call me racist. But when you do, remind -- let me remind you, African-Americans are dying in major cities because people won't face this problem. Gibson on Fox.

[...]

GIBSON: OK, I thought the kid was a black kid, I'll admit it, until I heard he shot himself. Does that make me a racist?

Read the entire story about the shooting here.


plez sez: well, john gibson asks the question, "does thinking the kid was Black until he found out that he shot himself make him a racist?"

i would answer, "NO!" john gibson has probably said or done other racist things that i would not care to dredge up.

because i knew the shooter was white: they never showed his picture on television! if you are wondering how i jumped to that conclusion, the news almost never shows WHITE criminals on television, but you can bet that if the Cleveland Shooter had been Black, you would've seen him (or his family members all over the screen). i watched CNN past midnight, and they still didn't have a picture of the shooter. and CNN almost implied the shooter was Black because the school is majority Black and everyone they interviewed was Black, but there was never any mention of a white shooter. maybe john gibson and plezWorld are BOTH racists, but for different reasons.

and i guess this is a sad commentary on the state of affairs in this country where everything (and i mean EVERYTHING) comes down to a discussion of race. what was the race of that psycho at Virginia Tech? WHEW! thank god, he wasn't Black! what did that white boy say to those Black boys in Jena, LA to warrant such a beat down? with a name like Shaquanda, she has to be Black! michael vick is a thug. hmmmm, they keep talking about this kid who turned the gun on himself after shooting four people at school, i wonder why they don't show his face (or the face of his relatives)... he must be white!

i am not particularly angry with what john gibson said, but i am more than alittle upset with the continued demonization and violent characterization of Black men in the media. i have no doubt that a Black shooter's face (baby picture or yearbook picture) would have made its way onto our television screens yesterday!