'A Tool to Perpetuate Racism and Xenophobia': Newsweek Apologizes for Kamala Harris Birther Op-Ed

Make no mistake: White people know birtherism is racism. Suggested Reading The Root 100 – 2020 Black History Month – 2022 Hip-Hop 50 Year – 2023 Video will return here when scrolled back into view Stefon Diggs and Cardi B Viral Boat Video Prompts Response from Patriots Coach To view this video please enable JavaScript,…

Make no mistake: White people know birtherism is racism.

Video will return here when scrolled back into view
Stefon Diggs and Cardi B Viral Boat Video Prompts Response from Patriots Coach
Stefon Diggs and Cardi B Viral Boat Video Prompts Response from Patriots Coach

They knew it when Trump and conservatives all over the country were demanding to see multiple forms of President Barack Obamaโ€™s birth certificate to prove his eligibility to be commander-in-chief, and they know it now that theyโ€™re using the birther narrative to suggest that Kamala Harris isnโ€™t eligible to be presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Bidenโ€™s running mate.

After defending its white nonsense for a week, Newsweek is apologizing for letting some right-wing Trump-humper the publication recently hired to publish an op-ed piece questioning Harrisโ€™ citizenship and eligibility to serve as vice president.

From the Daily Beast:

Newsweek Editor-in-Chief Nancy Cooper and the magazineโ€™s recently hired opinion editor, Trump-backing conservative activist and attorney Josh Hammer, apologized on Friday after nearly a week of defending a right-wing law professorโ€™s op-ed questioning Sen. Kamala Harrisโ€™ U.S. citizenship and her eligibility to be Joe Bidenโ€™s running mate.

โ€œThis op-ed is being used by some as a tool to perpetuate racism and xenophobia. We apologize,โ€ read the editorโ€™s note that replaced their earlier detailed defense of the op-ed. โ€œ[T]o many readers, the essay inevitably conveyed the ugly message that Senator Kamala Harris, a woman of color and the child of immigrants, was somehow not truly American.โ€

Even Newsweekโ€™s own staffers are pissed off knowing that they work for a media outlet that would treat this ghetto ass birther argument like itโ€™s respectable journalism.

โ€œTo see this piece run on Newsweekโ€™s website was beyond devastating,โ€ London-based Newsweek correspondent Chantal Da Silva tweeted on Thursday, as members of the magazineโ€™s London bureau sent an anguished and angry letter to top editor Cooper demanding that the essay be taken down. โ€œIt is inaccurate and it is dangerous. Journalism should be about informing, not inflaming and certainly not about spreading baseless claims that can only fuel the flames of racism and hatred.โ€

Christina Zhao, a New York-based senior breaking news editor, tweeted: โ€œThis is an inflammatory and racist op-ed that should never have been published. That is my opinion.โ€

Hereโ€™s the thing: Conservatives either have to believe that their beloved nationโ€”supposedly number 0ne in any and all thingsโ€”is so incompetent that our political process would allow a person to reach the highest governing office in the country without even checking to make sure they can legally hold said office, or they need to admit that they run with the birther argument because they donโ€™t want Black people with foreign-sounding names anywhere near the Oval Office.

Just say you want to make America White-run again and stop with this desperate ass birther nonsense.

Straight From The Root

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