CNN's Angela Rye on Race: We Must 'Uproot' America's 'Foundation'

June 23rd, 2020 7:41 PM

On Monday morning’s New Day, CNN hosts John Berman and Erica Hill brought on CNN political commentators Angela Rye and Errol Louis. During the discussion, Rye proclaimed that America “was built on a system of oppression and systemic racism and white supremacy.” She stated that in order to address these supposed issues with America’s founding, that “you have to uproot a lot of what is this country's foundation.”

The CNN host began the segment by reading a tweet from Bubba Wallace, an African American Nascar driver who found a noose in his garage on Sunday. Hill voiced her support for Wallace, but then lashed out at America and its history: “As we continue moving forward to become anti-racist and to talk about, not just the painful history but the painful reality in this country on a daily basis.” 

 

 

In her response, Rye upped the ante for bashing America:

RYE: Yeah, I appreciate at least your word choice on two of the things you mentioned. One is how we become anti-racist. And it is going to take a very deliberate effort because we know this country was built on a system of oppression and systemic racism and white supremacy. So in order to tear down all of that, you have to uproot a lot of what is this country's foundation.  That is going to make a lot of people uncomfortable. The ways in which so many of us are uncomfortable every single day. I say all the time, I refuse to be uncomfortable any longer so that you can be comfortable.

No one thinks CNN will revisit this indictment in the wake of authorities discovering the noose was not left for Wallace, but had been used for months to lift the door. The "painful reality" wasn't as painful as assumed.

As has been shown by leftist attacks on not just Confederate statues, but also those of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Ulysses S. Grant, the left is not just content to fight alleged racism in the modern U.S. It wants to tear down all of American history. Never mind that Thomas Jefferson’s statement that “all men are created equal” has inspired white Americans such as Washington, Lincoln, and Grant to advocate and fight for the rights of black Americans. 

Forget that many legendary American civil rights advocates, such as Frederick Douglas and Martin Luther King, saw themselves as carrying out the vision of the Founders. Jefferson’s words held even slaveholders such as himself accountable, as he inspired slave owners such as Washington to emancipate their slaves. No, history should be remade to match the left’s woke agenda.

Berman decided to attack more recent history as well. He questioned Louis about New York City’s decision to remove a statue of President Theodore Roosevelt: “Talk to me about the significance of this, well because some people are looking at this and saying, saying ‘Oh, they are going after Teddy Roosevelt now, it's proof they are going too far.’”

Louis answered that the statue will be removed due to its “blunt” racism:

This one I think was probably destined to be one of the first ones because everybody knows it, everybody has seen it, everybody knows it.  It's pretty blunt. It's not really subtle as far as what's going on, what's being depicted there. And so I think it's probably going to go.

American history is under attack by the left, and leftist media outlets such as CNN are more than happy to help.

 

The full June 22 transcript is here:

CNN New Day

06/22/20

8:30:34 AM

ERICA HILL: I think it’s important too that we, we put up what Bubba Wallace had to say in all of this. He tweeted out “Today’s despicable act of racism and hatred leaves me incredibly saddened and serves as a painful reminder of how much further we have to go as a society and how persistent we must be in the fight against racism.” But he goes on to say “This will not break me. I will not give nor will I back down. I will continue to proudly stand for what I believe in.” It's so important to see that and to see the support that he’s getting, and Angela, to talk about how he has forced this conversation upon a lot of people, and that's a lot of what needs to happen, too, as we continue moving forward to become anti-racist and to talk about, not just the painful history but the painful reality in this country on a daily basis.   

ANGELA RYE (CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR): Yeah, I appreciate at least your word choice on two of the things you mentioned. One is how we become anti-racist. And it is going to take a very deliberate effort because we know this country was built on a system of oppression and systemic racism and white supremacy. So in order to tear down all of that, you have to uproot a lot of what is this country's foundation.  That is going to make a lot of people uncomfortable. The ways in which so many of us are uncomfortable every single day. I say all the time, I refuse to be uncomfortable any longer so that you can be comfortable. What that probably means is that as a collective, we have to work towards making each other uncomfortable, stretching each other out of our comfort zones so that the right thing can be done. The fact that a symbol, a symbol of hatred, can result in another symbol of hatred put so close to his personal property is damning, and it’s so clear that we have a lot of work to do to undo some of what you talked about as anti-racist. 

JOHN BERMAN: Well it’s dangerous and threatening, period. Full stop.

RYE: Absolutely.

BERMAN: It absolutely is. Errol, you're an icon in New York City. And this morning we woke up to the news that the mayor has agreed – the city has agreed to remove the statue of Theodore Roosevelt, we’re looking at it right now, that’s outside the Museum of Natural History here on the upper west side. Now, just so people have context here, they're not removing everything about Teddy Roosevelt from the museum, they're removing this statue, which has been under discussion actually for a few years, because there are people who find the statue itself offensive. You can see the depiction right there, its Teddy Roosevelt up exalted on a horse with an African man and also a Native American sort of subjugated, guiding him through. Talk to me about the significance of this, well because some people are looking at this and saying, saying “Oh, they are going after Teddy Roosevelt now, its proof they are going too far.”

ERROL LOUIS (CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR): Yeah, look, there’s, there’s a lively debate going on all throughout New York City about different statues, what's there, what's not there, what should, what should be there. There are very few, very few, for example, of any women anywhere in New York City.  It's been a very fraught discussion. And this is going to be one more round in that discussion. Where you know, I, I, look, I've seen that statue. And like most statues, you kinda have to be there to see it. But, it’s really, really big. And almost every public school kid, at one point or another, is taken to that museum of natural history. So, it gets a lot of exposure, very wide exposure. I never felt particularly oppressed or impressed by it. Frankly, there’s a lot of wonderful stuff inside the museum that I remember. The guy on the horse out front, it’s kinda like, eh, whatever. Now, there are some people who react very differently, and we're now having this discussion about which symbols stay, which symbols go. This one I think was probably destined to be one of the first ones because everybody knows it, everybody has seen it, everybody knows it.  It's pretty blunt. It's not really subtle as far as what's going on, what's being depicted there. And so I think it's probably going to go.  I don't know if they're planning to replace it. That would be yet another fight.  It becomes unfortunate in a way that we subtract but we don't move forward.  If we decide what we don't like but we can't figure out what we do like, it would be in some ways kind of a shame.