On Sunday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” former CNN host Soledad O’Brien made a plea for journalists to no longer use the word “thug,” likening it to the “n-word.”
O’Brien told fill-in “Reliable Sources” host Frank Sesno the debate was “naïve” and argued the word was not accurate in describing the situaiton.
“For journalists to have a debate back and forth about thugs or thuggery is naïve and misplaced,” she said. “Journalists should strive to use words to describe accurately what’s happening.”
“I think there’s violent protesters, there’s drunk protesters, angry protesters,” she said. “When you look specifically about how the word riot is used, how the word thug is used, it’s always used around people of color, specifically in an inner city context.”
“Journalists should think about a word that actually doesn’t have a lot of nuance and isn’t specific, but somehow seems to be used a lot when talking about African-Americans,” O’Brien added.
(h/t Mediaite)
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