Firing Line: Don Lemon

Don Lemon, a CNN news anchor, speaks on racial injustices.  

One area that he addressed was the idea of cartoonish racism vs real life racism. Most cartoonish racism looks specifically at things such as the KKK, while real life racism tends to be more ingrained in society.

One area specifically is how schools twist their teachings on history to children. For example, schools tend to teach about how Columbus was the one who discovered America, when there were others who came before his arrival.

“Our history, and this is just an honest assessment,” he said. “It’s been taught to elevate some, and degenerate or lower others.”

The problem of not twisting history has led to some devastating consequences, according to Lemon. He believes that the reason why violence like the insurrection took place was because people did not operate from a place of knowledge. 

“That is how you get an insurrection is by people who don’t know their history,” he said.

One way to bring about change is through the ballot box, which is something that a lot of States have worked to restrict from African Americans. This is not only seen in the past, but is something that is happening today. But, he believes in the power of the ballot box to bring about change, especially as a African American citizen.

“We see the right to vote as access, as freedom, as equity, as equality, as a fundamental right as an American,” Lemon said.