Bill Hemmer of Fox today had Geraldo Rivera and Leo Terrell on to discuss Tishaura Jones, the controversial African-American mayor of St. Louis. The discussion centered around Jones’ ideas for reducing the city’s crime rates and reforming law enforcement.
Mediaite [1] describes the back and forth between Rivera and Terrell prior everything going CRAZY:
Rivera described Jones’ approach as “idealistic,” but also “unrealistic in many regards” for addressing urban crimes. Terrell went further by lambasting Jones’ ideas a “failure,” but he also told Rivera “give me a break” with his defensive comments about the mayor.
“I’m agreeing with you, bud,” Rivera responded. “You can’t bring a social worker to a g*n fight, I agree with you. But there is always room for kindness and compassion and these families are shattered…I just think you have to be realistic what’s going on here.”
The two Fox analysts then transitioned to address a debate in which Mayor Jones told Cara Spencer, her white, Democrat rival candidate, that “while I appreciate the role of white allies in this movement of progress, I don’t believe that they have the lived experiences to lead a majority-minority city.”
Jones basically said one must be black to run a majority-black city. It is safe to say that was the point when the conversation went supernova.
“That is the most insulting, racist comment!” Terrell reacted. “To say that she is basically in a better position because she is black is insulting, is racist, and makes no sense whatsoever.”
That’s when Rivera asked Terrell “when was the last time you were in the ghetto?”
“How dare you say that!?” Terrell shouted, and the two went on to yell at each other until Hemmer brought the conversation to a visibly tense end.
Jeezus, Geraldo! “Ghetto”? Couldn’t you have said “tougher” neighborhoods, “poorer,” all that? Or was “ghetto” the entire point?
Geraldo Rivera asks Leo Terrell when's the last time he was in the "ghetto" and all hell breaks loose pic.twitter.com/ZdjadawLqM [2]
— Ryan Masri (@ryanmasri_) April 8, 2021 [3]
Awful.
*****
Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak