by Allie Martin
(AgapePress) – A prominent black minister is calling for CBS to discipline anchorman Dan Rather for using an anti-black stereotype in nationally broadcast radio interview.
Rather was a guest on Don Imus’ syndicated talk show and was asked why his bosses had forced him to finally cover the Chandra Levy story. The CBS anchorman said his bosses “got the Buckwheats” and caved in to outside pressure.
It did not take long for Jesse Peterson, head of the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND), to slam Rather for referring to the easily frightened black character from The Little Rascals.
The story on NewsMax.com questioned whether CBS brass would react as strongly to Rather’s comment as officials at the network did 13 years ago, when the late CBS sports commentator Jimmy “the Greek” Snyder was fired shortly after making an offensive racist remark.
CBS officials have refused to comment on complaints over Rather’s remarks.
(This update courtesy of Agape Press.)
“Small Town, USA” Rejects National Motto as Too Controversial
by Allie Martin
(AgapePress) – The director of the American Family Association of Northwestern Pennsylvania says officials in one local city are misinformed about the “separation of church and state.”
Last week, council members in Oil City, Pennsylvania, rejected a request by a local college student to hang a framed poster with the national motto, “In God We Trust,” in city hall. The poster, which was also a gift from the student, was rejected on the grounds that it was “too controversial.”
Diane Gramley is executive director of the AFA of Northwestern Pennsylvania. She says local city leaders are caving in to strong arm tactics from the American Civil Liberties Union. “The ACLU has many people afraid to display anything that has the word 'God' in it,” she says. “Even [in] Small Town, USA, here, the truth needs to be gotten out about what our rights are, and that God is part of our nation's history.”
Gramley says the issue is not about the separation of church and state. “The council, I think, just doesn't want to take a stand,” she says. “I think they don't fully understand that it's not an issue of separation of church and state which doesn't exist but that it's an issue of our national history.”
Oil City officials are being encouraged to reconsider the council's decision.
The Mississippi-based American Family Association initiated the effort to get the posters with the national motto placed in all public buildings throughout the nation. Tax dollars are not being used to either print the posters or distribute them. Last year, Congress passed a resolution which encouraged the display of the national motto in public buildings.