Cross posted to the MRC's NewsBusters blog
On Friday's CNN Tonight, as liberal host Laura Coates devoted a segment to the 60-year anniversary of the 1963 civil rights march on Washington, D.C., she allowed her guest to falsely claim that it may soon be illegal to read about slavery in Florida, and that voting rights are being taken away in the U.S.
Appearing to promote his series about the 1963 march, titled "The Beat Goes On," Mario van Peebles fearmongered:
We know that it was illegal to teach enslaved people how to read. Soon in Florida, it may be illegal to read about an enslaved person. So we know you have problems with education. I know my daughters might not have the same freedoms that their moms had. Just the freedom to vote is being encroached on -- the right to go to school and not get shot at. So we know there's problems.
Even though the curriculum for the teaching of black history in Florida obviously will thoroughly teach about slavery and other civil rights struggles for American blacks, Coates gave no pushback as she responded:
We know the boots on the ground notion of it is so important because when you think of 60 years ago in the march on Washington, the concept of what it meant to have civil rights, maybe people thought of it as more singularly focused on race. They didn't think of it necessarily as expansive and what it would mean and the domino effect of the taking away of one thing and what it could lead to others.
And so the idea of that big tent that you described will be very much a part of recognizing the 60 years even tomorrow, knowing how bigger -- how much bigger the tent has grown, but all the work that still needs to be done.
When Peebles got to speak again, he sounded like he was still living in the past as he claimed that voting rights are being taken away:
The French have a saying. ... "The more things change, the more they stay the same." History doesn't just directly repeat itself, but it does rhyme. And so you've got to sort of know where you were to know where you're going. And I think it's really time for us to take a look at this gift we have where democracy is in peril -- this gift we have -- I mean, so many states are repealing the right to vote for all of us.
Coates then just wrapped up the segment by making lame jokes about her guest naming the series after her.
This latest example of incendiary misinformation from CNN was sponsored in part by Carvana. Their contact information is linked.
Transcript follows:
CNN Tonight
August 25, 2023
11:51 p.m. Eastern
MARIO VAN PEEBLES, THE BEAT GOES ON: I am not interested in just what the problems are. We know there's darkness. We know that it was illegal to teach enslaved people how to read. Soon in Florida, it may be illegal to read about an enslaved person. So we know you have problems with education. I know my daughters might not have the same freedoms that their moms had. Just the freedom to vote is being encroached on -- the right to go to school and not get shot at. So we know there's problems.
What I want to focus on are grassroots organizations that are doing something to turn the lights on, and that's where the King family comes in, and a new company called Partners in Crime, and we're teaming up to make a multi-part series focused on the boots on the ground, the high heels on the ground, the sneakers on the ground, the folks out there making a positive difference because too many people like my big-headed son over there don't think their vote matters. They've got to say, "I can make a difference, and if my vote didn't matter, people wouldn't be trying to squash it." So I want to focus on folks of all demographics -- of all races that are out there trying to turn the lights on for all of us.
LAURA COATES: We know the boots on the ground notion of it is so important because when you think of 60 years ago in the march on Washington, the concept of what it meant to have civil rights, maybe people thought of it as more singularly focused on race. They didn't think of it necessarily as expansive and what it would mean and the domino effect of the taking away of one thing and what it could lead to others. And so the idea of that big tent that you described will be very much a part of recognizing the 60 years even tomorrow, knowing how bigger -- how much bigger the tent has grown, but all the work that still needs to be done.
PEEBLES: The French have a saying. ... "The more things change, the more they stay the same." History doesn't just directly repeat itself, but it does rhyme. And so you've got to sort of know where you were to know where you're going. And I think it's really time for us to take a look at this gift we have where democracy is in peril -- this gift we have -- I mean, so many states are repealing the right to vote for all of us. That it's critical to focus, I think, on the positive of what we can do to make change. And that's what I want to do.
The only problem is we need a good name. We're thinking about 'The Beat Goes On." It's a cool name because of the drum beat figure of speech. But I don't know. So if you think of a better name, you let us know for the series.
COATES: I mean, Laura Coates is a hell of a name.
PEEBLES: Laura Coates is a hell of a name!