PBS’s Christiane Amanpour likes to say that journalists should be “truthful, not neutral,” but a common theme of Amanpour and Company is that her commitment to the truth only goes one way. For Wednesday’s Juneteenth show, Amanpour claimed that Donald Trump’s presidency and the Supreme Court represent “hurdles” to racial equality, while her guest, Equal Justice Initiative Executive Director Bryan Stevenson, claimed that some states are making it illegal to learn about the history of racial injustice in America.
Amanpour led Stevenson with more of a declaration than a question, “So, let's talk a little bit about more hurdles that seem to be -- I mean, just rushing to get put up by the Supreme Court votes by, you know, certainly under the Trump administration. So, if Congress won't pass voting rights legislation, Supreme Court won't uphold current laws, well, obviously, there's been progress, but there seems to be so much pushback.”
Stevenson gave a long answer that began with him agreeing, “No, you're absolutely right. We are still in the middle of a really important narrative struggle in the United States for what it means to actually achieve freedom. And I do think the historical context is important. After emancipation, our Congress passed the 14th Amendment, which guaranteed equal protection to formerly enslaved people. They passed the 15th Amendment, which guaranteed the right to vote. But those rights were not enforced because we were more committed in America to maintaining racial hierarchy, to maintaining white supremacy than enforcing the rule of law.”
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