On Thursday's CNN This Morning, co-host Don Lemon picked up on the story from Philadelphia of a racist video surfacing of high school girls mocking Black History Month, and exploited it to an horrifically partisan degree to pontificate against Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis's education policies.
And, even though he set up the segment by noting that the girls involved are in high school, he later incorrectly claimed they were in college and suggested that they might not have behaved so badly if they had learned about black history in high school.
Lemon set the segment up by telling viewers to "just sit and watch this one and take it in, and try to figure out exactly what is going on here," adding: A video of a racist incident circulating online, sparking protests and at least two suspensions at a Philadelphia high school. The video -- there it is, part of it -- shows a girl spraying black paint on another girl's face while making comments referencing Black History Month."
Correspondent Jean Casarez showed viewers the despicable video in question that showed a group of girls with blurred faces (but who appear to be white) with one spray painting a second girl's face while making mocking comments about Black History Month.
The CNN reporter informed viewers that two of the girls attend a Catholic school, and that several black students from the school had allegedly been sent copies of the video, although the incident did not happen on school property. She read a statement from the school suggesting that the girls had been suspended.
Instead of focusing on the racist nature of these students and raising questions about how they were raised to do such a thing, the miserable Lemon took the opportunity to lecture Governor DeSantis about the teaching of black history:
I hope Ron DeSantis is watching and paying attention. I hope that people who are saying that we shouldn't -- we should only teach certain aspects of our history are watching. There's nothing funny about Black History Month because that's what we should be learning -- the importance of Black History Month because these kids think it's a joke.
Even though he had already acknowledged earlier that the girls were high school, the CNN host then suggested that they were in college:
And it's perhaps because they didn't learn it before they got to college, and maybe they wouldn't be exhibiting this sort of behavior if they actually knew the history of this country, right? And the true history of this country and the importance of at least reverence and attention to the black people who helped to build this country rather than making fun, spraying someone, saying, "Oh, it's Black History Month!" It's not funny.
Governor DeSantis, of course, did not get rid of the teaching of black history in schools, but instead imposed regulations to prevent the politicization of the subject.
This episode of CNN This Morning was sponsored in part by Ring and ADT. Their contact information linked.
Transcript follows:
CNN This Morning
February 9, 2023
6:32 a.m. EasternDON LEMON: All right, so you just sit and watch this one and take it in, and try to figure out exactly what is going on here. A video of a racist incident circulating online, sparking protests and at least two suspensions at a Philadelphia high school. The video -- there it is, part of it -- shows a girl spraying black paint on another girl's face while making comments referencing Black History Month. So what's going on? Jean Casarez joins us. She's been looking at this video, and she has a report on it. So what happened here?
JEAN CASAREZ: Let's just state the facts. Here are the facts. According to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, three girls are in this video. Two attend Saint Hubert Catholic High School for girls. A third girl -- she does not attend the school. Now, in the video, a girl is seen spray painting the face of another girl black, throwing around racist insults, all while several girls are watching. They sit by -- they laugh. Let's watch a little bit of this.
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL #1: You're a black girl! You know your roots! It's February!
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL #2: Your mom is never letting anyone in.
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL #1: You're nothing but a slave. After this, you're doing my laundry.
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL #2: The White girl just takes this [expletive] [inaudible].
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL #3: I'm black and I'm proud!
CASAREZ: A black parent whose daughter attends the Catholic school told CNN the video was sent directly to his daughter and niece along with other black students. Now, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia tells CNN the exact distribution is unknown at this point of time. What is known is that the video was taken outside of school, after school hours, and then put on social media. "Those allegedly responsible are not present in school and are being disciplined appropriately. We take this opportunity to be abundantly clear that there is no place for hate, racism or bigotry at Saint Hubert's or in any Catholic school. It is not acceptable under any circumstances or at any time." The statement goes on to say that general threats have now been made against the school community after the video surfaced on social media. They're BEING reported as they come in to the Philadelphia Police Department and law enforcement. They have been on the campus since the video surfaced. Philadelphia's branch of the NAACP expressed in a statement Wednesday strong disappointment in the video and called on the school to, "ensure action takes place immediately."
LEMON: I don't really know what to say.
CASAREZ: I know. It's beyond words. I mean, what's the motivation? What's the state of mind? What is, I mean, this is blatantly.
LEMON: Look, you know, we've all been young at one point -- some of us closer to, you know, at least for me, to you guys. You've been younger -- you're younger than I am -- but when I was in college, you know, people would do stupid things. People would openly use the n-word, but I thought that by the time we got to 2022, 2023, that things would be different. These kids should know better. They are kids, you know, and I want to cut them slack that they're kids, but their actions are reprehensible.
CASAREZ: Yeah.
LEMON: And it's not funny.
CASAREZ: No.
LEMON: And it should not -- it shouldn't happen, but it definitely should not be spread. They should know better the consequences of -- this will last forever. This is going to stick with them forever.
CASAREZ: I think it'll be very interesting to see what happens because, you know, what is their state of mind here? What are they thinking? And it was done off campus, and we know from a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision of a high school girl that didn't get --
POPPY HARLOW: I was just going to bring up the SCOTUS decision.
CASAREZ: -- what she --
HARLOW: That's exactly right.
CASAREZ: --- what she did not -- she didn't achieve cheerleader or something, and off-campus she made a video that was absolutely disparaging --
HARLOW: Yep.
CASAREZ: of the principal and students and teachers, and it went all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. And they said, "It's off-campus -- freedom of speech."
HARLOW: That's right.
CASAREZ: It can be done.
HARLOW: It's really interesting moment in the First Amendment battle --
CASAREZ: It was.
HARLOW: -- over all of this and consequences --
LEMON: Well, I --
HARLOW: -- and responsibility --
CASAREZ: Yeah.
HARLOW: -- just on a legal front.
LEMON: I hope Ron DeSantis is watching and paying attention. I hope that people who are saying that we shouldn't -- we should only teach certain aspects of our history are watching. There's nothing funny about Black History Month because that's what we should be learning -- the importance of Black History Month because these kids think it's a joke. And it's perhaps because they didn't learn it before they got to college, and maybe they wouldn't be exhibiting this sort of behavior if they actually knew the history of this country, right? And the true history of this country and the importance of at least reverence and attention to the black people who helped to build this country rather than making fun, spraying someone, saying, "Oh, it's Black History Month!" It's not funny.
CASAREZ: Which goes with, the Archdiocese is saying, "Suspension, expulsion, you know, we are taking measures."
LEMON: Yeah.
CASAREZ: Is that enough?
LEMON: No, no. It's not enough.
HARLOW: All of this.
LEMON: You learn it when you're younger. That's where you get it. Thank you, Jean Casarez.
CASAREZ: Thank you.
LEMON: Appreciate that.
