'Racist,' Not 'Racially Charged': NPR's Thinking On Labeling The President's Tweets
The inbox overflowed this past week with passionate (and yes, often angry) listener and reader feedback about NPR's decision to use the word "racist" to describe President Trump's tweets that certain members of Congress should "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came." He didn't name the members of Congress, but it was clear he was referring to four Democrats: women of color known as "The Squad," three of whom were born in the U.S.
The emails fell into three broad categories. Some praised what they said was NPR's use of clear and accurate language to describe the president's words. (To be clear: NPR used the word "racist" to describe the tweets, not the man who wrote them.) Wrote one listener: "At some point, declining to label dictionary definition racism, white nationalism, and white supremacy what they are isn't august objectivity: it's bias against reality."
On the opposite side were those who said the word "racist" was simply inaccurate, that the president was misquoted, because after telling the lawmakers to "go back," he also said they should "come back" with solutions,
