More than 30,000 people in less than a week have signed online petitions calling for MSNBC to fire conservative commentator Pat Buchanan following his recent appearance on a “pro-white” radio talk show and the recent release of his book, in which he argues that increasing diversity is a threat to America.
“MSNBC is allowing Pat Buchanan to continue presenting his divisive rhetoric as mainstream political commentary, and it must stop,” Rashad Robinson, executive director of Color of Change, the advocacy group that has organized the online petition.
“We’re saying to MSNBC that they should not write a check to a white supremacist,” Robinson told BlackAmericaWeb.com.
Attempts by BlackAmericaWeb.com to reach a spokesman at MSNBC for comment were unsuccessful.
Buchanan is a political analyst and regular contributor on MSNBC. He is also a syndicated columnist.
In a letter to its members, Color of Change leaders said:
For years, Pat Buchanan has passed off white supremacist ideology as legitimate mainstream political commentary. And MSNBC continues to pay him and give him a platform on national TV to do it.
Buchanan has just published a book which says that increasing racial diversity is a threat to this country and will mean the “End of White America.” This weekend, to promote his book, he went on a white supremacist radio show whose host has said things like “MLK’s dream is our nightmare” and “interracial sex is white genocide.”
Buchanan has the right to express his views, but he’s not entitled to a platform that lets him broadcast bigotry and hate to millions. If MSNBC wants to be seen as a trusted, mainstream source of news and commentary, it needs to fire Buchanan now.
Please join us in calling on MSNBC to fire Pat Buchanan.
Media Matters, another Internet-based advocacy group, also has launched an online campaign targeting Buchanan’s most recent appearance on the show, “The Political Cesspool.” Other advocacy groups – the 700,000 member Courage Campaign, the Progressive Jewish Alliance, and the Jewish Funds for Justice – also has called for Buchanan’s firing.
“For decades, Patrick Buchanan has been stoking the flames of hate. And after Patrick Buchanan’s recent appearance on the self-described ‘pro-White’ radio program The Political Cesspool, the time has come to say enough is enough,” leaders of the Progressive Jewish Alliance and the Jewish Funds for Justice wrote in a prepared statement. “That’s why we are joining the call for MSNBC to stop giving airtime to Pat Buchanan’s bigotry. With the publication of his new book, ‘Suicide of a Superpower,’ he speaks openly of his fears of American diversity, warning of a time when ‘whites may discover what it is like to ride in the back of the bus.'”
Color of Change began about two years ago with a campaign calling for Fox News to fire Glenn Beck, a show host whose comments were often viewed as racist or divisive. That campaign grew to include a proposed boycott of companies that advertise on Glenn Beck’s show.
Beck left his on air position with Fox in late June, as his shows experienced significant decline in audience numbers.
Robinson said he is hoping that MSNBC will respond quickly to the concerns about Buchanan.
“We’re hoping that MSNBC does not feel as much loyalty to Buchanan as Fox did for Glenn Beck,” Robinson said. “We’ll continue to fight.”
If MSNBC does not respond, “it would be like having them say, ‘We associate with white supremacists,’” Robinson said. “We will shine the light and hold them accountable.”
