WIS-TV Accuses SC LoS of being a Hate Group
From: skimball@sc.rr.com
WIS-TV in Columbia, SC showed a segment of “Awareness”, dedicated to so-called Hate Groups, at 10:00 AM on Sunday, 10 July 2005. This program, which claimed that South Carolina is home of 47 hate groups, mostly local chapters of the League of the South, was hosted by Craig Melvin. His guests were Kevin Gray, representative of the SC ACLU; Anton Gunn, a “community activist”; Cynthia Prior Hardy, president of Oncore Media; and I.S. Leevy Johnson, an attorney. All were black, and all agreed with Morris Dees’ bigoted report claiming that the League of the South is a hate group. The SC NAACP was also invited, but did not respond to the invitation. The SC League of the South was not invited to participate in this program.
The only pretence at “fair and balanced” discussion was a throwaway remark about the League of the South, made by host Craig Melvin, that “they do not consider themselves a hate group”. There was no discussion, or even any acknowledgement of that statement.
By far the most bigoted of the group was Kevin Gray. That was strange, considering the ACLU claims to be dedicated to protecting Constitutional freedoms. In his remarks, he associated the League of the South with the church burnings which occurred in South Carolina a few years ago. He also claimed that South Carolina, because of the League of the South, is the ideological home of White Supremacy. When challenged by host Craig Melvin with the question “according to whom?”, Kevin danced around the answer, linking his accusations to such issues as States Rights, Nullification, Secession, and poverty in Haiti.
When asked what constitutes a hate group, Kevin Gray responded that it is any organization which either uses violence, or is considered a hate group by the beholder. In doing so, he implied that any group of people he wants to consider a hate group, for whatever reason he may choose, whether he discloses his reasons or not, must be guilty of using violence.
Kevin Gray openly accused the League of the South of being racist. The only justification he gave was his circular reasoning that it must be racist because he thinks it is. He could not give any evidence; when asked to do so, he then accused the League of the South of considering whites to be “more human”; again, he offered no justification other than his own bigoted opinion.
Anton Gunn was the most honest. He stated he believed the League of the South is a racist organization because Morris Dees Southern Poverty Law Center report says so, and he believes Dees must always be accurate. His proof that Dees is to be believed is that the SPLC report also includes the Black Panthers and the Nation of Islam. At that point Kevin Gray objected, claiming that the “New” Black Panthers are not racist. He then said the Nation of Islam must also be excluded, because although they advocate “separation” from the U.S., they do not advocate violence as a means to accomplish separation. Of course he completely ignored the fact that if the Nation of Islam’s desire for secession is valid, the League of the South's desire must also be valid.
Cynthia Prior Hardy stated that she did not like labelling any organization a “hate group”; then before she could even take another breath, agreed with everything Kevin Gray had said! She also said our Confederate Battle Flag should come down everywhere, because “all blacks” find it offensive. She claimed the flag was proof black opinions don’t count. She then claimed that if she discovered she was doing anything at all that offended someone, she would rectify that. Whatever she was doing, she would change it. We may have to find out if she was serious.
I.S. Leevy Johnson accused the League of the South of being a “Current and permanent hurricane in our midst”, implying that we’re more destructive than any hurricane, and “That should send fear through all of us”. He also made the bigoted claim that our Confederate flags are proof that white supremacy permeates the state, and race hatred during the time of the Confederacy was proof. Gee, he didn’t look old enough to remember that far back. And again, he offered no proof whatsoever for his accusations.
Johnson also claimed to speak for all Southern blacks, claiming that every one of them finds the Battle Flag offensive. He also offered no reason why he considers it offensive, and no proof that he represents all blacks. He couldn’t, since the Mississippi flag vote proved beyond all doubt that the majority of all Southern blacks support our Confederate Battle Flag. Anton Gunn then agreed, stating that flying our flag condones terrorism. Somehow that seemed to imply that our flag on the South Carolina Statehouse grounds was responsible for the bombing of the Twin Towers in New York.
I.S. Leevy Johnson also made the statement that the call for blacks to improve themselves is racist and offensive. I still don’t understand that statement.
The program ended with a segment on the Mexican stamp depicting the 1940's black Mexican cartoon character Memin Pinguin. However, for that segment a Mexican immigrant who could barely speak English was brought on stage to defend the stamp and the Mexican government. At least in that segment there was the barest semblance of presenting both sides, and there was even some discussion about how Mexican culture is different, and Mexico has the right to their own decisions. There was not even that much of a concession made concerning their slanderous accusations against the League of the South.
As a final note, several weeks before this “Awareness” program on so-called hate groups was aired, a reporter with WIS-TV called the SC League of the South number listed in the Columbia, SC Business White Pages, and talked with the Midlands Coordinator, Steve Kimball. This reporter claimed he was working on an article, and needed to confirm some information he had received earlier from LoS representative Ed Eichelburger in Greenville, SC. At no time did this reporter make any mention of a television program. However, from this conversation, we know that WIS-TV did indeed know how to contact the South Carolina League of the South, and could have invited us to send a representative if they had so desired.
Following are contact numbers for WIS-TV. Please write them, give them a call, or both, and let them know your honest opinion of their program.
For Southern Independence,
Steve Kimball
Mail for the Awareness segment is: Awareness Mailbag PO Box 367 Columbia, SC 29202.
Email for Awareness is: awareness@wistv.com
Phone for Awareness is: 803-758-1172
WIS TV main office address is 1111 Bull St. Columbia, SC 29201 PO Box 367
Main business phone is 803-799-1010
Fax for main business is 803-758-1155
WIS-TV in Columbia, SC showed a segment of “Awareness”, dedicated to so-called Hate Groups, at 10:00 AM on Sunday, 10 July 2005. This program, which claimed that South Carolina is home of 47 hate groups, mostly local chapters of the League of the South, was hosted by Craig Melvin. His guests were Kevin Gray, representative of the SC ACLU; Anton Gunn, a “community activist”; Cynthia Prior Hardy, president of Oncore Media; and I.S. Leevy Johnson, an attorney. All were black, and all agreed with Morris Dees’ bigoted report claiming that the League of the South is a hate group. The SC NAACP was also invited, but did not respond to the invitation. The SC League of the South was not invited to participate in this program.
The only pretence at “fair and balanced” discussion was a throwaway remark about the League of the South, made by host Craig Melvin, that “they do not consider themselves a hate group”. There was no discussion, or even any acknowledgement of that statement.
By far the most bigoted of the group was Kevin Gray. That was strange, considering the ACLU claims to be dedicated to protecting Constitutional freedoms. In his remarks, he associated the League of the South with the church burnings which occurred in South Carolina a few years ago. He also claimed that South Carolina, because of the League of the South, is the ideological home of White Supremacy. When challenged by host Craig Melvin with the question “according to whom?”, Kevin danced around the answer, linking his accusations to such issues as States Rights, Nullification, Secession, and poverty in Haiti.
When asked what constitutes a hate group, Kevin Gray responded that it is any organization which either uses violence, or is considered a hate group by the beholder. In doing so, he implied that any group of people he wants to consider a hate group, for whatever reason he may choose, whether he discloses his reasons or not, must be guilty of using violence.
Kevin Gray openly accused the League of the South of being racist. The only justification he gave was his circular reasoning that it must be racist because he thinks it is. He could not give any evidence; when asked to do so, he then accused the League of the South of considering whites to be “more human”; again, he offered no justification other than his own bigoted opinion.
Anton Gunn was the most honest. He stated he believed the League of the South is a racist organization because Morris Dees Southern Poverty Law Center report says so, and he believes Dees must always be accurate. His proof that Dees is to be believed is that the SPLC report also includes the Black Panthers and the Nation of Islam. At that point Kevin Gray objected, claiming that the “New” Black Panthers are not racist. He then said the Nation of Islam must also be excluded, because although they advocate “separation” from the U.S., they do not advocate violence as a means to accomplish separation. Of course he completely ignored the fact that if the Nation of Islam’s desire for secession is valid, the League of the South's desire must also be valid.
Cynthia Prior Hardy stated that she did not like labelling any organization a “hate group”; then before she could even take another breath, agreed with everything Kevin Gray had said! She also said our Confederate Battle Flag should come down everywhere, because “all blacks” find it offensive. She claimed the flag was proof black opinions don’t count. She then claimed that if she discovered she was doing anything at all that offended someone, she would rectify that. Whatever she was doing, she would change it. We may have to find out if she was serious.
I.S. Leevy Johnson accused the League of the South of being a “Current and permanent hurricane in our midst”, implying that we’re more destructive than any hurricane, and “That should send fear through all of us”. He also made the bigoted claim that our Confederate flags are proof that white supremacy permeates the state, and race hatred during the time of the Confederacy was proof. Gee, he didn’t look old enough to remember that far back. And again, he offered no proof whatsoever for his accusations.
Johnson also claimed to speak for all Southern blacks, claiming that every one of them finds the Battle Flag offensive. He also offered no reason why he considers it offensive, and no proof that he represents all blacks. He couldn’t, since the Mississippi flag vote proved beyond all doubt that the majority of all Southern blacks support our Confederate Battle Flag. Anton Gunn then agreed, stating that flying our flag condones terrorism. Somehow that seemed to imply that our flag on the South Carolina Statehouse grounds was responsible for the bombing of the Twin Towers in New York.
I.S. Leevy Johnson also made the statement that the call for blacks to improve themselves is racist and offensive. I still don’t understand that statement.
The program ended with a segment on the Mexican stamp depicting the 1940's black Mexican cartoon character Memin Pinguin. However, for that segment a Mexican immigrant who could barely speak English was brought on stage to defend the stamp and the Mexican government. At least in that segment there was the barest semblance of presenting both sides, and there was even some discussion about how Mexican culture is different, and Mexico has the right to their own decisions. There was not even that much of a concession made concerning their slanderous accusations against the League of the South.
As a final note, several weeks before this “Awareness” program on so-called hate groups was aired, a reporter with WIS-TV called the SC League of the South number listed in the Columbia, SC Business White Pages, and talked with the Midlands Coordinator, Steve Kimball. This reporter claimed he was working on an article, and needed to confirm some information he had received earlier from LoS representative Ed Eichelburger in Greenville, SC. At no time did this reporter make any mention of a television program. However, from this conversation, we know that WIS-TV did indeed know how to contact the South Carolina League of the South, and could have invited us to send a representative if they had so desired.
Following are contact numbers for WIS-TV. Please write them, give them a call, or both, and let them know your honest opinion of their program.
For Southern Independence,
Steve Kimball
Mail for the Awareness segment is: Awareness Mailbag PO Box 367 Columbia, SC 29202.
Email for Awareness is: awareness@wistv.com
Phone for Awareness is: 803-758-1172
WIS TV main office address is 1111 Bull St. Columbia, SC 29201 PO Box 367
Main business phone is 803-799-1010
Fax for main business is 803-758-1155
posted by Chuck Demastus at
10:19 PM
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