MSNBC Turns Black Man With Gun At Obama Rally Into White Man

by Rory Cripps | August 20, 2009 at 04:45 pm

14816 views | 34 Recommendations | 14 comments

The following story has been widely reported over the Internet and Talk Radio. However, I haven't heard any mention of the story in the main stream media. And at this point, I haven't been able to gather enough information from credible news sources in order to determine whether the story is true or false.

The story is as follows: An African American man showed up at President Obama's health care rally in Arizona (Aug. 17) carrying an AR 15 assault rifle and a pistol and MSNBC reporters edited footage and spun the story in order to make its viewers believe that the armed man was white as opposed to being black. Obviously, whether the story turns out to be true or false, there will be a serious backlash. I'll keep y'all posted . . . .

On Tuesday, MSNBC’s Contessa Brewer fretted over health care reform protesters legally carrying guns: "A man at a pro-health care reform rally...wore a semiautomatic assault rifle on his shoulder and a pistol on his hip....there are questions about whether this has racial overtones....white people showing up with guns." Brewer failed to mention the man she described was black.

Following Brewer’s report, which occurred on the Morning Meeting program, host Dylan Ratigan and MSNBC pop culture analyst Toure discussed the supposed racism involved in the protests. Toure argued: "...there is tremendous anger in this country about government, the way government seems to be taking over the country, anger about a black person being president....we see these hate groups rising up and this is definitely part of that." Ratigan agreed: "...then they get the variable of a black president on top of all these other things and that’s the move – the cherry on top, if you will, to the accumulated frustration for folks."

Not only did Brewer, Ratigan, and Toure fail to point out the fact that the gun-toting protester that sparked the discussion was black, but the video footage shown of that protester was so edited, that it was impossible to see that he was black. The man appeared at a health care rally outside of President Obama’s speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Phoenix, Arizona.

The Arizona Republic reported: "A man, who decided not to give his name, was walking around the pro-health care reform rally at Third and Washington streets, with a pistol on his hip and an AR-15 (a semi-automatic assault weapon) on a strap over his shoulder. ‘Because I can do it,’ he said when asked why he was armed. ‘In Arizona, I still have some freedoms.’" A picture accompanying the article showed the man was African-American.

President Barack Obama addressed the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention this morning in Phoenix.

But the real story was on the streets outside the downtown convention center, where the corners were packed with vocal opponents and supporters of the his health-care reform plans.

People on both sides were chanting and counter-chanting to make their points.

One sight was perhaps a little unnerving to those in charge of making sure everybody remains on their best behavior.

A man, who decided not to give his name, was walking around the pro-health care reform rally at Third and Washington streets, with a pistol on his hip and an AR-15 (a semi-automatic assault weapon) on a strap over his shoulder.

"Because I can do it," he said when asked why he was armed. "In Arizona, I still have some freedoms."

Two police officers were staying very close to the man.

"What he is doing is perfectly legal," Det. J. Oliver, of the Phoenix Police Department said. "We are here to keep the peace. If we need to intervene, we will intervene at that time."

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158

at 18:16 on August 20th, 2009

Much of the media is biased, with a political agenda.

Some black people do opppose ealth reform and do support gun rights.

Rory Cripps

at 18:38 on August 20th, 2009

158: I'm just extrapolating and guesstimating from personal experience here: There are millions of African Americans that are to the right of Rush Limbaugh. They are, indeed, part of the "silent majority". Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing, only time will tell.

Weimar Republican (not verified)

at 18:41 on August 20th, 2009

Hmmm...Nicely dressed, apparently well-funded negro. Dare I suspect he was paid by Soros and/or his minions? Another socialist staged event reminicent of Germany in the last century.

Rory Cripps

at 19:17 on August 20th, 2009

All things are possible in America today! It's bad luck all around, nowadays, and things can get nasty in any direction. At the moment that Americans realize that their finances are not sufficient to keep up their material life-style, they get edgy. They stay that way until they see economic hope on the horizon. However, Americans are not very hopeful nowadays. If things don't get better soon, on all fronts, things in America will get very nasty very quickly. One has only to look at America's history to see how pissed off the American people can become when they feel that they're getting screwed over. In my opinion, the Taliban, and the rest of the throat-cutters, don't have a thing on the American people when the American people are pissed off.

The_Cynic

at 19:29 on August 20th, 2009

The reporter who interviewed him was armed with a pistol - they also knew each other and, from what I saw today - if I'm correct, the interviewer was a member of the "Viper Militia".

[Link]

Rory Cripps

at 19:47 on August 20th, 2009

The Cynic: Thanks for the info. My gut tells me that the story is a result of a set-up. But it's a story all the same and I felt it worthy of posting. I'm curious to see how this story plays out and what the facts are.

marianmo

at 20:28 on August 20th, 2009

apparently the cynic is right..the reporter, also carrying a gun is a member of the militia and apparently the same kind as timothy mcveigh...people need to get the story right before putting it into the news...

Mary Richard

at 21:51 on August 20th, 2009

This is a PR stunt by 4409 and whoever (Ron Paul?), of course it was staged! I reported it here. This dude says "taxation is theft, all taxation" (at 1.49 of the 4409 video). I donno, when people stop making sense to me, I stop listening, whatever their color.

Sori I haven't kept up on the MSNBC version, I'm a CNN kinda person...

TruthSeeker1101 (not verified)

at 22:29 on August 20th, 2009

Sorry but I don't fall for it. I don't believe it. MSNBC wouldn't do that. MSNBC is not like Fox News, it's Fox News that does things like that. It's just a made up story to make MSNBC look bad.

Rory Cripps

at 06:57 on August 22nd, 2009

TruthSeeker: I hope you're right! But nothing surprises me nowadays when it comes to putting a racial spin on a story. Indeed we've come to expect it. As far as Fox News goes, I wonder . . . .

seephas (not verified)

at 15:43 on August 26th, 2009

you are either a plant or work for MSNBC.

Angrygnat (not verified)

at 10:59 on August 21st, 2009

Doesn't really matter if it was a set up or not, the man in the video is a militia member or not, funded by Ron Paul (yah right) or Soros. The point of the story is that MSNBC intentionally edited its footage to scew the story in the "angry-white-racists-are-armed-and-near-the-prez" angle. A divided people are easily conquered and this is just another attempt to drive the wedge further. Stay tuned for tomorrows' attempt.

Ryder (not verified)

at 09:05 on August 25th, 2009

Hear, hear! The sobering truth is this: MSNBC used editing techniques to turn a black man with a gun, into a white man with a gun, and used this magical transofmation to engineer "racism" against Obama. Obama said there would be racism in his campaign... and the fact that it has not surfaced is causing problems for him and his supporters, so much so that MSNBC (clearly a supporter) is having to manufacture public opinion through new levels of deception. What this means for any consumner of media, is that to the degree that what you "know about the world" is a manufactured product, is the extent to which you are unaware of fact and truth. This kind of bias as a product major media outlets (big networks and big printed "news" sources) is certainly not new, but it is increasingly bold and desparate (and for decades, has been decidedly biased by and for the political left), resulting in a very large divergence of public "knowledge" from fact and truth. This is, of course, the purpose of control. If you can control what people "know", you have controling influence on how they behave, and how they live, and how they vote. Learn to spot it. Case in point: Big media calling citizens protesting obamacare "astroturf" (ie: false protest) Then Big media reports on Obama (chief executive of the Federal Goverment) organizing "grass roots" support of obamacare. Government generating "grass roots" movements? WHAT? MOST people probably never even noticed, they simply incorporated this "journalism" and moved on. Learn to hate most journalists. They are truly evil. Consume media with extreme caution.