Tag: Melissa Harris Perry

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MSNBC Politics

Melissa Harris-Perry No Longer Working on MSNBC

Shocked! Unbelievable that MSNBC and Melissa Harris-Perry have butted heads to the point where they cannot straighten things out. Perry and MSNBC are apparently going their separate ways!

“Farewell #Nerdland,” she tweeted on Sunday, referring to the probing discussions on her weekend show. “Inviting diverse new voices to table was a privilege. Grateful for years of support & criticism.”

The network says MSNBC and Harris-Perry are parting ways.

She was scheduled to appear this Saturday and Sunday in the regular two-hour slot from 10 a.m. to noon. But Harris-Perry announced several days ago that she would stay away — in response to MSNBC’s pre-emption of her program for much of February for coverage of presidential politics.

Harris-Perry has focused on the politics of race, gender and social justice on her “Melissa Harris-Perry” show.

“Our show was taken — without comment or discussion or notice — in the midst of an election season,” Harris-Perry said in an email to her staff that was posted on her Twitter page on Friday.

MSNBC “would like me to appear for four inconsequential hours to read news that they deem relevant,” including more political news. “I will not be used as a tool for their purposes. I am not a token, mammy, or little brown bobble head,” said Harris-Perry, who is black.

“While MSNBC may believe that I am worthless, I know better,” she added. “I know who I am. I know why MHP Show is unique and valuable. I will not sell short myself or this show.”

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Featured Politics racist

Republican Candidate Calls Melissa Harry Perry a “Dirty Ape”

Jim Coughlan

“Keep your stinking paws off my kid, you damned dirty ape.”

Those words by Republican Jim Coughlan, the Dutchess County controller and a candidate for state Senate, was directed at Melissa Harris-Perry in response to remarks she made about child-rearing that upset many conservatives.

Coughlan said he had no idea that Harris-Perry is black and denied the comment had racist undertones, saying he simply repeating a “well-known quote from the Planet of the Apes.

Even republican party insiders aren’t that thrilled with Coughlan and would probably just as soon wash their hands of him.

Some Republicans said they fear his Twitter history could keep them from regaining a Senate seat they long held until two years ago.

“Jim Coughlan is toxic,” said one.

“The Democrats are dying to run against him in November because they know he’s the best chance they have of keeping this seat in Democratic hands.”

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Celebrities Politics

Melissa Harris Perry Offers Tearful Heartfelt Apology To Romneys – Video

I’m not trying to make this apology a political issue, but this is just another example of the vast difference between Democrats and Republicans.

On December 29th Melissa Harris Perry, host at MSNBC, aired a show featuring a group of comedians to reflect on some of the news that caught their attention during the year 2013. It was a panel of comedians, so naturally the segment’s intent was comedic. What caused the controversy was a picture Melissa showed of the Romney’s grand kids, showing Mitt Romney’s black adopted grandson. Melissa’s panel of comedians offered various ‘jokes’ about the Romney clan and the Republican media went insane, demanding an immediate apology.

Among those calling for an apology was, of course, Sarah Palin. Palin took to her Facebook page and called the comedic segment “despicable.” She wrote;

“Leftist media hounds are not expressing an opinion with this attack; they are expressing a prejudice that would never be accepted if it came from anyone else but the lib[eral] media. This latest attack from the Left is despicable.”

So today, one week after her episode aired, Melissa Perry offered an apology. A tearful, heartfelt apology. Will anyone on the right ever apologize for anything they’ve said? Will Sarah Palin apologize for her careless slavery analogy that caused Martin Bashir to lose his job at MSNBC? Will Rush Limbaugh issue an apology to Sandra Fluke and all the women for all the insensitive things he’s said over the last 20 years?

Of course they wont. And that’s the difference between us and them.

Melissa’s apology.

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Politics trayvon martin

Melissa Harris Perry’s Open Letter to Angela Cory – Stop Blaming The Victim – Video

Melissa Harris Perry wrote an open letter to Florida’s Prosecutor Angela Cory – the same Angela Cory who sent Marissa Alexander to jail for 20 years for firing a warning shot to scare off her abusive husband, and the same Angela Cory whose prosecution team allowed George Zimmerman to walk free after killing Trayvon Martin.

And in her letter, Perry shed some light on a little nugget that I’m sure many have missed, that Angela Cory appears to penalize the victims more than she does the perpetrators. Melissa focused her letter on Cory’s prosecution on Merissa, but her words could have very well be for Cory’s failure in finding justice for Zimmerman’s victim, Trayvon Martin.

There is nothing like being home for the holidays with your loved ones. So I can only imagine that this Thanksgiving is particularly bittersweet for Marissa Alexander, who was granted a special pre-trial release at 10:30 PM on Wednesday – Thanksgiving Eve – after spending more than 1000 days in jail, and barely seeing her youngest child who just recently turned three.

But my letter is not to Marissa. Sis, I am saving that one for when you are finally freed for good. No, my letter this week is to the woman that worked to put you in jail in the first place: Florida State Attorney for the fourth judicial circuit, Angela Corey.

Dear Angela Corey, It’s me, Melissa.

Angela, there are few times in life that we get second chances to right our wrongs. Well Angela, this is yours.

You have been called a fierce victim’s advocate, so it is way past time that you start acting like it.

Because a woman who was hospitalized in 2009 after being shoved into a bathtub and hitting her head – she is a victim.

A woman whose estranged husband has admitted to abusing all five mothers of his kids – she is his victim.

And when that woman, that victim, who has just recently given birth, fires a warning shot near the man that has cornered her in her home – she is a victim who feels she has no other recourse.

But that is part of the problem, Angela. You never saw Marissa as a victim. You saw Marissa as the aggressor and even justified why the infamous “Stand Your Ground” law was not applied in Marissa’s case.

Because, as you put it, she was not fleeing from an abuser, even though Rico Gray, her estranged husband, has admitted telling Marissa that he would kill her if she ever cheated on him.

You have said that the shot fired was not consistent with a warning shot because it was at adult head height. Marissa is three inches shorter than Rico Gray.

And according to you she didn’t have to get 20 years in jail. That also was her fault, right Angela? You said to NBC’s the Grio back in May: “She didn’t have to get 20 years, because I took into account their prior domestic history and her lack of a [criminal] record, and we offered her the three year mandatory minimum.”

Marissa is a mother of three. And she is a victim of abuse.
Any mother knows that one day away from her child is 24 hours too long.

And when you are an abuse victim, you have to believe that the courts will finally free you from the cycle of violence instead of criminalizing you for trying to protect yourself.

If nothing else, the last two years should have shown you that an aggressive prosecution is not always the best one.

So while I know Marissa is thankful this holiday to be home with her family while she awaits her new trial on March 31st, 2014, maybe you should spend this holiday being thankful that you have a second chance to right this obvious wrong.

Sincerely,
Melissa

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Bill O'Reilly Politics trayvon martin

Michael Eric Dyson Slams Bill O’Reilly’s Race Commentary – Video

On Sunday’s Melissa Harris Perry‘s show, a clip of Bill O’Reilly’s commentary was played where the Fox host thought he was doing the African-American community a favor by educating them on racial issues. Bill O’Reilly began his segment with an attitude – You want a conversation about race? You got one – Bill O’Reilly said, after George Zimmerman was acquitted in the Trayvon Martin case. O’Reilly spoke his words with a look of disgust on his face as if someone just interrupted him from watching his favorite show.

O’Reilly then went into his version of “the conversation,” criticizing blacks and black leaders, including President Obama for not making life in the hood any better. According to Mr. O’Reilly, race relations will be much more improved when Blacks pull themselves up by their bootstraps, be better parents and have better entertainment. “You can’t legislate good parenting or responsible entertainment,” Bill says.

No mention from the Fox host on what Whites should do in making race relations better in this country. That is where Mr. Dyson came in with his commentary. “You know,” Dyson said, “what’s interested to me… why is it when we say we want a conversation on race, you want to have a conversation on blackness?”

Watch the rest of Dyson’s commentary below.

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News Rape Serena williams

MHP Lets Serena Williams Have It!

On yesterday’s MHP Show, Melissa let tennis star Serena Williams have it for her seemingly admonishment of the teenaged girl who was raped by two high school football players in Steubenville, Ohio last summer.

Serena wrote in response to a query from Stephen Rodrick of Rolling Stone, who asked her about the rape. She said:

“I’m not blaming the girl, but if you’re a 16-year-old and you’re drunk like that, your parents should teach you: Don’t take drinks from other people. She’s 16, why was she that drunk where she doesn’t remember? It could have been much worse. She’s lucky. Obviously, I don’t know, maybe she wasn’t a virgin, but she shouldn’t have put herself in that position, unless they slipped her something, then that’s different.”

In Harris-Perry’s ‘Open Letter” segment of the show, she responded to Serena’s comment (see video):

And Ms Harris is absolutely correct. William’s attitude is one that many women share when they hear of rape–even I sometimes engage in such backward thinking at times.

It’s like there’s an automatic defense mechanism that pops up when you hear the word ‘rape’.  A defense against the idea that people just go around committing such a horrible crime without somehow being severely provoked.

We hear about a rape and think, “What she was wearing? What was she doing there so late at night? Why didn’t she know any better? What did she expect to happen?

Not rape. No women ever expects or wants that. 

Setting the responsiblity for rape on the shoulders of the victim gives the onlooker credence to believe that if they don’t behave or act like however the victim has done, they themselves will remain safe from such horrors. Of course we’re wrong.

When someone decides to harm another fellow human being, it’s their wrong decision, not the unfortunate victim’s. The most cautious, prudent and intelligent among us can still fall victim to someone’s evil intentions.

And it would absolutely not be our fault.

 

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