The MSNBC show “Morning Joe” invited several black panelists onto the program on Thursday to discuss a racist chant at the University of Oklahoma, a day after white panelists on the show tried to blame the chant on rap music.
The show caused an uproar Wednesday when conservative editor Bill Kristol, who is white, said fraternity members at the university who were filmed singing the racist chant were imitating bad language they learned from rap music.
The segment sparked a social media backlash on Wednesday, even spawning the hashtag #RapAlbumsThatCausedSlavery.
On Thursday morning, the show brought on MSNBC host Rev. Al Sharpton, journalist Trymaine Lee, and news anchor Roland Martin to discuss the Oklahoma chant.
Martin suggested that Wednesday’s segment missed the mark by focusing too narrowly on racial slurs.
“You can focus on the N-word, or you can deal with the fact that the chant dealt with domestic terrorism against black people, and that was lynching,” he said.
“What happens, then, when this man [seen chanting on the video] leaves OU and is now in the workforce?” Martin said. “He’s not using the N-word in public at work, but what he’s doing is possibly denying opportunities for somebody to be advanced. And so this thing goes far beyond just being a drunk college student. This now goes into income inequality. It now goes into hiring practices.”
Watch below via MSNBC:
h/t Mediaite
