I don’t always like Anderson Cooper of CNN’s AC360. Cooper’s need to appear objective often drives him to go to bizarre lengths to prove that the Democrats are just as bad as the Republicans. Over the years he has gone from bad to worse and justifiably earned the title of “The King of Bothsiderism.”
Despite this annoying habit, however, Anderson every now and again gives us flashes of sheer empathic brilliance. Such was the case yesterday as he responded to the obscene, vile, racist attack launched against black and brown immigrants by the moron in the WH.
But before I share the transcript of his remarks with you (in case you haven’t seen it as yet), I want to make a point about something that was profound, at least for me, about Anderson’s emotional tribute to Haiti and her people last night.
We cry because we hurt
There’s a subtle but significant difference between how many of our white allies process racist attacks against communities of color as against how those of us on the receiving end do. For some of our white brothers and sisters, it’s a cerebral exercise: Racism is wrong and they have no patience for those who’d preach otherwise. For others, more than just the intellect is involved; racism makes them furiously angry. They are the John Browns who are ready to do battle on behalf of the victimized — ready to lay life and limb on the line if necessary. Since the shit gibbon took office and started throwing his excreta around like confetti, I have seen quite a few grown men cry on live television. Don Lemon, Van Jones, Charles Blow, Bakari Sellers, D.L. Hugely, to name a few, have all broken down and cried for all the world to see. They are all black men.
We, the maligned & the abused, we cry. We cry because racism hurts in a visceral, gut-wrenching way. Racism evokes physical, mental, psychological, and emotional pain and tears come at that point when it just gets to be too much to bear. We cry for ourselves. We cry for our loved ones. We cry in recognition of the great hurt and the indignities that were visited upon our fore-parents and that we still see playing out today...2018...still.
Anderson Cooper cried last evening and it was a watershed moment. He felt the type of pain that could not be held in. He felt our pain at an instinctual, gut-level and that, to me, was a welcome change.
Here then is the transcript of Anderson Cooper’s beautiful words on behalf of a maligned people:
Before we go tonight, I just want to take a moment to talk about Haiti, one of the place the president of United States referred to today as a shithole country. I was taught math in high school by a Haitian immigrant name Yves Volel who work hard, who dedicate themselves to teaching kids of America. He ultimately returned to his country in Haiti and was assassinated while running for president.
I spend a lot of time in Haiti, I first went there in the early 1990s, as a young reporter. In 2010, my team from CNN was the first international team of journalists on the ground after the earthquake struck. I spent more than a month there and have return many times on assignment and on vacation. Like all countries, Haiti is a collection of people, it's rich and poor, well-educated, not good and bad many. But I've never met a Haitian who isn't strong. You have to be to survive in a place where the government has often abandoned this people, where opportunities are few and where mother nature has punished the people far more than anyone should ever be published.
But let me be clear tonight, the people of Haiti have been through more, they've been through more, they've with stood more, they fought back against more injustice than our president ever has.
Tomorrow marks exactly eight years since the earthquake struck Haiti, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake killed between 220,000 and 300,000 people. The actual numbers will never be known, because they were buried in unmarked pits. One and a half million people were displaced. For days and weeks without help from their own government or police, the people of Haiti dug through rubble with their bare and bloodied hands to save complete strangers. Guided only by the cries of the wounded and the dying. I was there when a young girl name Bee (ph) who'd been trapped in rubble for nearly a day was rescued by people who had no heavy equipment, they just had their God given strength and their determination and their courage.
I was there when a 5-year-old boy name Mangly (ph) was rescued after being buried for more than seven days. Do you know what strength it takes to survive on rainwater buried under concrete, a 5-year-old boy buried for seven days. Haitians slap your hand hard when they shake it, they look you in the eye. They don't blink, they stand tall and they have a dignity. It's a dignity many in this White House could learn from. It's a dignity the president with all his money and all his power could learn from as well.
On the anniversary of the earthquake, on this day, when this president has said what he's said about Haitians, we hope the people on Haiti who are listening tonight, and (INAUDIBLE) L.A. and Miami and elsewhere, we hope they know that our thoughts are with them and our love is with them as well.
But you really have to hear him speak them to get the full emotional impact of his words:
Thank you, Mr. Cooper.