Geraldo Rivera's new radio talk show on WABC in New York is leading to Rivera blabbing at length about himself and his career. On Monday, Geraldo admitted he might not have had his high-profile career without racial quotas (or "affirmative action," in liberal-speak).
I'm a product, I think, of affirmative action, in the sense that I was a lawyer for the Young Lords [a leftist Puerto Rican nationalist group], and for poor people here in New York and then I got discovered and I was sent to Columbia Journalism School by this Ford Foundation program," Geraldo announced. [MP3 audio here]
He added: "Professor Fred Friendly, his intent was to integrate local news teams and that's why I got the job to begin with. So, I have to say that but for affirmative action, I might not be behind this microphone right now."
The Museum of Broadcast Communications website reports it this way:
Rivera was discovered while working as a lawyer for the New York Puerto Rican activist group the Young Lords. During the group's occupation of an East Harlem church in 1970, Rivera had been interviewed on WABC-TV local news and caught the eye of the station's news director Al Primo, who was looking for a Latino reporter to fill out his news team.
