[More in the cross-post on the MRC's NewsBusters blog.]
Alex Wagner and her two left-wing panelists on the 29 April 2015 edition of her MSNBC program – Salon's Brittney Cooper and The Nation's Ari Berman – likened the use of the word "thug" to describe the rioters and looters in Baltimore, Maryland on Monday to a notorious racial slur against blacks. Wagner played up how "there are folks, like CNN's Erin Burnett, who don't understand why it's offensive; and why some people are saying the 'T' word is the new 'N' word."
Cooper claimed that "thug" is "rooted in a racialized understanding of black people." Berman also asserted that "the use of the word 'thug' has been used to delegitimize the actions of many because of the actions of a few...the 'black live matter' movement has been a peaceful movement....And so, by making it seem like everyone 'black lives matter' is now a thug, you're trying to delegitimize a movement and mis-characterize it."