Chris Jansing had to referee her panelists as it went off the rails discussing Sean Spicer’s disrespect of longtime White House journalist April Ryan. Was it racism? It got in-your-face heated.
Professor Jason Johnson schools Trump apologist Matt Schlapp on racism
Journalism Professor Jason Johnson was forced to put Trump apologist Matt Schlapp in his place as he attempted to marginalize his comments on Spicer’s racism. It was clear Chris Jansing was about to say that she had never seen a reporter addressed in the manner Sean Spicer disrespected April Ryan after Matt Schlapp attempted to defend Sean Spicer’s disrespect. But when he said it was not racism as a matter a fact the panel went off the rail.
“You don’t get to tell other people what racism is,” Johnson said.
“You don’t either,” Schlapp slammed back. “You don’t either.”
“Yes I do,” Johnson slapped back. “Because you don’t experience it.”
“You don’t know what is in Sean’s heart,” Schlapp responded. “You don’t know what is in Sean’s heart.”
“You don’t need to raise your voice,” Johnson said. “Because that is the kind of racism I am talking about. You just raised your voice with someone for simply disagreeing with you. You have interrupted me throughout this entire exchange. And rather than speaking respectfully and considerately, you raise your voice at me because you are uncomfortable of being spoken to by somebody who doesn’t agree with you and recognizes that you don’t know what you are talking about. And you are going to get in my face. That is unprofessional.”
As Johnson was making his point, Schlapp was trying to get up in Johnson’s face in an attempt of intimidation as he shouted over his remarks.
“Gentlemen,” Chris Jansing shouted out to restore order. “Gentlemen.”
I must say, Jansing was firm and showed a command of her show more hosts should follow. She gave space for the development of the discussion and then brought it down.
“Finish your thought,” Jansing said. “And then I’d like you to respond.”
“My thought is this is the exact type of aggression and lack of respect that we are talking about,” Johnson said. “And it goes beyond Sean Spicer. It goes to President Trump. It goes to Steve Bannon who runs an Alt-Right website. We are talking about having civil conversations in Congress. And the moment that someone who is African American demonstrated a manner of integrity or intent or strength that makes somebody uncomfortable, if they have some issue with that, they do not respond to it.”
It was clear that Johnson was also referring to the Bill O’Reilly’s disrespect for Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Schlapp continued his rude interrupting.
“And he keeps interrupting me because he is incapable of respecting the space and calm that I have established,” Johnson continued.
“I don’t care what color you are,” Schlapp interjected. “And I have respect for you.”
“I care what color you are,” Johnson said. “Because it is important.; because our differences are also a part of this country. Can we count how many times you interrupted me before hand? And then you yelled at me. Please continue but let’s make sure we don’t lose that point.”
There was much to this heated exchange. It is difficult for Johnson because the dismissiveness that can occur with racism by inference is different than the outright racism of the past. I do believe that Trump tore off the scab of inferred racism when he campaigned in many areas that exposed that cancer in our country. However, guys like Spicer and O’Reilly are still able to use inferred racism for plausible deniability.