Killer Mike Pans Geraldo and Wolf Blitzer's Baltimore Coverage
EntertainmentKiller Mike is directing some very necessary criticism at Geraldo Rivera and Wolf Blitzer regarding their reportage of the Baltimore protests.
Earlier this week, while on the ground in Baltimore for Fox, Rivera made the mistake of trying to admonish a protester by saying that person was “making a fool” of himself. This led to Rivera being, as we say, checked.
Killer Mike—who’s been incredibly vocal about police brutality and social unrest—addressed the Geraldo incident, as well as Blitzer’s damaging CNN coverage of the protests, in a reasonable, rational op-ed for Billboard published today.
Mike writes:
…I’ve watched Geraldo Rivera and Blitzer pander to the audiences of oppression on TV. Rivera was approached by a very sensible man who said, “Why are you here? Not to cover a calm and peaceful protest — you’re here to sensationalize it.” Rivera turned his back on him, and at first I thought it was arrogance, but I think it was actually shame. This half-Hispanic, half-Jewish man who comes from two different communities, who knows what poverty and oppression can do, could have said, “I want to know the real story.”
(By the way, the article begins with Killer Mike’s recap of his experience at the White House Correspondents Dinner—he mentions how “someone tried to introduce me to Michael Bloomberg, but I declined.”)
He says of Blitzer:
And Blitzer, as Jon Stewart pointed out, said he never thought he’d see such violence again in America, and he said nearly the exact same words about Ferguson a few months ago. I turned away from the TV with far less respect for him — if I were introduced to him today, I’d walk away. Not because they’re evil and bad people, but because they’re players in the game that sensationalizes and objectifies this in the worst ways — I don’t trust they that they want to see the change.
Mike ends by op-ed encouraging the citizens of Baltimore to continue assembling after the protests:
I don’t criticize rioting because I understand it. But after the fires die down: organize, strategize and mobilize. Like Ferguson, you have an opportunity to start anew. I don’t have a solution because whoever’s there will have to come up with it. But we need community relations: riots are the language of the unheard.
Related: As part of his ongoing open engagement about race in America, Killer Mike gave a guest lecture at MIT.
Watch him talk about hip-hop and race below.
Mike’s advice on improving race relations in colleges: Image via InstagramContact the author at [email protected].