NRATV host Collins Iyare “Colion Noir” Idehen Jr. came after the survivors of the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla., just two days before anti-gun violence rallies swept the nation.
Noir said in a video: “To all the kids from Parkland getting ready to use your First Amendment to attack everyone else’s Second Amendment at your march on Saturday, I wish a hero like Blaine Gaskill had been at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last month because your classmates would still be alive and no one would know your names, because the media would have completely and utterly ignored your story, the way they ignored his.”
Gaskill fired his weapon at a student at a Maryland high school who brought a gun to school and shot two students. One of them, the gunman’s ex-girlfriend, died at the hospital. He has been declared a hero and sharply compared against Scot Peterson, the deputy who has been criticized for failing to act to save students at Marjorie Stoneman Douglsa High School in February.
“From where I’m standing, it looks like a march to burn the constitution and rewrite the parts that you all like in crayon,” he said.
“They’re running Season 5 of their gun-control reality show, featuring the freshest cast of characters yet in their modern march on Washington except this time for less freedom,” Noir said. “These kids ought to be marching against their own hypocritical belief structure.”
The same video garnered harsh criticism for rapper Killer Mike, who referenced NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch’s quote that the media loves crying white mothers.
Loesch in February said, “Crying white mothers are ratings gold” and questioned, “And notice I said ‘crying white mothers,’ because there are thousands of grieving Black mothers in Chicago every weekend, and you don’t see town halls for them, do you Where’s the CNN town hall for Chicago Where’s the CNN town hall for sanctuary cities”
“It’s so true,” Killer Mike said of the quote.
Killer Mike is an advocate for gun ownership in Black communities.
“I told my kids I love you, if you walk out that school, walk out my house,” he said in reference to the walkouts that took place across the country.
As Fair360, formerly DiversityInc previously reported, a Chicago police report found that straw purchasing and illegal trading of firearms plays a significant role in gun violence in Chicago. A “straw purchase” in the case of guns is when one person legally buys a firearm and then illegally sells it to another person. The NRA has not taken a stance against straw purchasing and in fact went to the Supreme Court to defend it.
Killer Mike’s interview was slammed on social media.
Brother,
I have to respond publicly because your NRA video was public.
1. They aren’t simply a news platform.
2. They’ve abandoned us many times over.
3. They’ve targeted & threatened & cruelly insulted us many times over. @KillerMike – I love you. You played yourself.
Shaun King (@ShaunKing) March 25, 2018
Respectfully, Mike, NRA TV is not the equivalent of MSNBC, or CNN, or CBS, etc. It’s not a news network. It’s a video outlet for the NRA, designed to push their propaganda, and it’s propaganda that is demonstrably hostile to people who look like you and me.
Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) March 26, 2018
I love Killer Mike.Thats my brother. He made some excellent points about Black gun ownership. The problem is, he is talking about it on the NRA platform & the NRA could give LESS THAN A DAMN about protecting Black people’s 2nd Amendment rights. Ask the family of Philando Castille
Tariq Nasheed (@tariqnasheed) March 24, 2018
Fair360, formerly DiversityInc CEO Luke Viscontiwrote in a recent column:
“Further, the NRA specializes in creating propaganda to whip up fear fear of Black and Latino marauders. This is what’s behind their support of Trump. Trump’s hate speech against every minority group feeds right into the fears of scared racist white people who are the president’s core 35 percent support. A perfect circular partnership.”
“It is racism that feeds both desire for guns and refusal to enact logical gun control. And racism is responsible for the massacre of inner city citizens and students in leafy suburbs,” he added.
Killer Mike eventually apologized, calling himself an ally of the March For Our Lives organizers and describing the NRA as a group he does not necessarily always agree with. He also said the interview was aired a week after it was conducted, suggesting it was not posted at an ideal time.
For some Twitter users, this wasn’t enough. Others appreciated the clarification.
You should have said these exact words on your NRA TV interview. Not to your twitter followers after a well-deserved backlash.
Jason (@JayBar40) March 25, 2018
DUDE. How could you *not* have expected the NRA to use a hot, just under the mainstream, minority celebrity to push their own agenda You could’ve EASILY posted a series of videos much like the above – directly expressing your feelings on gun ownership w/o the NRA. #disappointed
grindcore is good for you (@brad_dk) March 26, 2018
yeah, no. the NRA is a racist organization which supports killing unarmed black people. if you didn’t know this before you stepped in it, i don’t know what is wrong with you.
sorry, @KillerMike. i hope you find comfort in guns cuz you killed your rep.
tammy lauren’s cooter shooter (@maison21) March 26, 2018
Point well taken! This should clear everything up. Love u mike!!!
annie (@LilUrchin_Annie) March 26, 2018
