RUSH: Okay, Tony in Atlanta. I’m glad you waited, sir. Welcome to the EIB Network.
CALLER: Rush, I just have something to tell you about this Trayvon Martin thing. It’s a tragedy. I understand that. I feel sorry for the family. But I just want to know where is the outrage in the African-American community? We are… The crime, black-on-black crime, the teenage pregnancy, the high school dropout, HIV. I mean, this doesn’t make any sense to me. All this town hall meetings and protesting and stuff about that situation, what about all the other situations that we’re going through? This is ridiculous.
I just don’t understand what Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are doing, all over TV about this, and we are killing each other out here every day. What about the three men that got shot last night in Atlanta? The baby that got shot in Stone Mountain during a robbery? What…? What’s going on? I mean, this is ridiculous. It’s just have to say, all African-Americans is not behind Al Sharpton and them. We’re not, because this doesn’t make any sense. We are dying out here. We’re killing each other. It’s like a war. It’s like a war zone, and it’s in America, and nobody says anything about it. This is ridiculous.
RUSH: Well, people are afraid to, Tony. They’re afraid to mention it. You can.
CALLER: I mean, when I was coming up, when I was a child, you wanted to be a police officer, a fireman, a teacher. Now you want to be a rapper, a basketball player, a drug dealer! I mean, this is craziness. I mean, I’m educated, and I have a family. I’m a family man, I’m married, I have kids, and I’m seen as a Uncle Tom and a sellout.
RUSH: I’m gonna ask you something. I’m gonna go back, but you ask a really good question. You acknowledge that there’s a lot of anger over the Zimmerman-Martin verdict. Are you angry…? Is the anger at the verdict or is the anger at Zimmerman for what he did?
CALLER: This is my anger. I feel bad for both of ’em.
RUSH: Okay, well —
CALLER: I do think he was wrong for getting out of the car and doing what he did, but at the same time, we can’t do anything about this. The jury has spoken. We’re not understanding that all of this anger and stuff is just making us look bad.
RUSH: That’s my question. You asked a really, really, really good question. You acknowledge that there’s anger over the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman thing. But I’m gonna turn it back and I want to ask you the question: Why isn’t there anger over all of the…? In Chicago alone, the murders there mostly are black-on-black. You cited the incident happened at Stone Mountain. Why isn’t there anger about that? Not just with Jackson and Sharpton, but why isn’t there anger throughout the black population over that?
CALLER: I’m gonna tell you why. Because it has become as though it happens every day; they’re just used to it. This is the normal way of living.
RUSH: Well, that’s just unacceptable!
CALLER: I know it’s unacceptable, but if you keep saying or keep doing the same thing, it’s just like a lie. If you keep telling somebody a lie, eventually they’ll believe it. And that’s the same thing that’s going on in the African-American community. It’s so much murder, so much killing, so much disease. I mean, it’s just ridiculous. Yet, this is normal. So when people try and get out of it situation like I did… I’m a college graduate. I got a good job. I live in a nice community, my kids are good kids, good grades. But African-Americans, to them, I’m a sell out. I’m a Uncle Tom. I mean, I can’t be positive to a lot of them because that’s what they see me as. But if I was a rapper?
RUSH: You know, I don’t understand it, either, and it’s really frustrating. I have some black conservative friends and they get the same treatment, and it is really maddening. But, you know, I was thinking about it. There’s a lot of white-on-white crime, too. It makes… (sigh) Uh, how to say it? I get mad at all of it. There’s no white-on-white crime that I say, “Well, you know, it’s two white guys. I don’t care. Fine.”
That’s never my reaction. I don’t know anybody with an attitude like that, unless it happens in a prison. But, I mean, in the normal course of events, it angers everybody all the time, particularly if it needn’t have happened, if it could have been stopped or what have you. But at no time does anybody look at it and say, “Oh, well it’s just the way it is,” or what have you.” You’ve asked such a great question that nothing can answer, I don’t think.
CALLER: I want to know, “Where’s the outrage?” Where? I mean, this doesn’t make any sense to me. I mean, I listened to the radio the other day. The deejay was talking about Trayvon Martin, “This is a tragedy! We need to stop this,” and then the next song he played was a Lil’ Wayne rap song. What? This is craziness. Here you talking about murder and killing children —
RUSH: Well, see, that’s another brilliant point.
CALLER: — and now you’re playing a song about murder and my guns, and I just donÂ’t understand. How can you be so outraged about him being killed, but then you’re playing a song with a guy talking about having guns! This is craziness!
RUSH: I can’t add anything to that. That is exactly what so many people don’t understand.
CALLER: They’re not taking ’em serious. How can you be on the radio?
RUSH: You know, people are told, “Well, that’s a cultural thing and you just don’t understand it.” We’re told that rap music is rooted in cultural reality —
CALLER: It’s not!
RUSH: — and it’s a way of relieving a bunch of pent-up tension, stress, and so forth. It’s not something that just everybody can understand.
CALLER: You know, in Atlanta the deejays are all having town hall meetings this weekend, but listen to the music that they’re gonna play after the town hall meetings! How can somebody take you serious when you’re talking about this but then the music you’re playing is not adding up with what they’re saying? You’re a joke.
RUSH: Well, I hear you. Believe me, I hear you loud and clear, and I’m really glad you called. Tony, thank you very much. I have to go because of time constraints. But it’s been great having you here.