The guilty verdict in the trial of John Honore, the young male who torturously murdered Linda Frickey led to a rational conversation on our talk show that was void of race, and that was an important moment because Honore is Black and the woman he tortured and killed was white.
It was reassuring to hear callers from the Metro New Orleans area, the Gulf South, and other parts of the country condemn the brutal murder of Linda Frickey without making excuses or looking for reasons to downplay the actions of Honore, who was 17 at the time of the murder, because he is a young Black male. However, Mayor LaToya Cantrell commented on the verdict and failed to say anything specific about the actions of the young Black male. Mayor Cantrell has a reputation of not singling out the criminal actions of young Black citizens. Cantrell's comments were general comments about how society suffers when young people are led astray. While she's right about that, she followed her pattern of protecting even those who commit horrific crimes in an apparent effort to act as an activist for African-Americans. Being an activist for the African-American community is not a problem - failing to call out those within the African-American community who willingly commit brutal crimes is a problem and amounts to passive support of racism.
We can never come together as a city or a country if we cannot honestly judge wrongdoing. The automatic defense or prosecution of an individual based on their race is supporting racism.
One of the on-going themes of our talk show in New Orleans is a committed fight for equality. The number of Black listeners and callers to our show is frankly staggering - and reassuring. The Black voices on our show today that felt free to condemn the conscious murder of a female were motivated by the judgment of actions, and race was not a factor.
When we fail to call out the criminal behavior of the members of the group we are associated with - we passively support the criminal behavior. It is sad to notice the instincts of many Black and white Americans who defend their own no matter how serious the crime. This is what is supporting racism in America.
I am very proud of our audience's ability to distinguish behavior from race. While much of the media fuels racism for the purpose of creating compelling conflict, the colorblind judgment of our overall audience is a positive sign that "we, the people" - are actively striving to denounce racism.
Enjoy the conversation with a caller named Gee in the audio player above - Gee articulated what so many Americans believe and it's comforting to know that these conversations can thrive in a world where racism has become an industry.
