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Anti-immigrant activists are reportedly trying to get liberal radio host Mark Thompson fired
Eric Boehlert
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2019/04/17 · 13:11
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Veteran progressive Sirius XM radio host Mark Thompson has been off the air for more than a week. The move came soon after a physical, videotaped altercation that took place in Newark, when an activist approached him after a community event and called him an "Uncle Tom" and a "sell out c00n." Activists with ties to the far right quickly seized on the video and are reportedly using the incident in an attempt to get Thompson fired from his Sirius XM radio show. The dispute stems from a larger campaign by black advocates to target a number of black progressives, including Joy Reid, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Roland Martin, Malcolm Nance, and the Rev. William Barber, among other Trump critics.
"If Thompson is purged on such a thin basis, it will encourage further mischief," warned columnist Richard Rosendall in the Washington Blade. Thompson has hosted the show Make It Plain for 18 years, and his was among the first talk shows hosted by XM Satellite Radio when it debuted in 2001. (XM merged with Sirius in 2008.) He became the first black person in the U.S. to host a daily, national show on a progressive/liberal talk format. In 2013, Thompson was honored at the 104th Annual NAACP Convention in July 2013 “for 25 years of crusading journalism and outstanding leadership in furthering the work of civil and human rights.” (Full disclosure: I've been a fan of Thompson's show for years and have appeared on it many times.)
The somewhat obscure group at the center of the conflict is called ADOS, which stands for American Descendants Of Slaves. They are a pro-reparations collective that's active online. Thompson himself has long been in favor of reparations. But while appearing on MSNBC he criticized the group’s tactics for their exclusive focus on Democrats, which then made him a target of ADOS’s attacks.
While ADOS is pro-reparations, it's also anti-immigration. "There is evidence that ADOS is actually advancing a right-wing agenda, and while it calls itself progressive, it pushes anti-immigrant views," Media Matters noted this week. Specifically, Media Matters points out that ADOS’s cofounder serves as a board member of the right-wing front group Progressives for Immigration Reform (PFIR), which despite its "progressive" name is firmly anti-immigrant and has ties to Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an extremist group run by white nationalist John Tanton. The Southern Poverty Law Center has tagged PFIR a front group for FAIR. The ADOS website praises President Donald Trump and former President Ronald Reagan for their policy views, while attacking former President Barack Obama.
Also, Ann Coulter is a fan, while other white conservatives have pushed coverage of Thompson's altercation online.
"It became apparent to me very quickly that ADOS was an anti-black immigrant movement when scores of ADOS accounts began to harass me, an American-born citizen, for being an immigrant. I was called a “c00n”, a “sell out”, I was told to “go back to Haiti," wrote musician and social activist Talib Kweli Greene after he also came under attack from ADOS. "Supposedly pro-black ADOS folks were using the same exact hateful rhetoric that white supremacists have used on me for years in digital spaces." He concluded that, "ADOS is an insidious right-wing funded anti-immigration hashtag movement cloaked in the righteous language of reparations."
Meanwhile, Thompson supporters are rallying behind him:
I reached out to a Sirius XM spokesperson about Thompson's status, but have not heard back. If I do, I'll include the company's response here.
Anti-immigrant activists are reportedly trying to get liberal radio host Mark Thompson fired
Eric Boehlert
Community
2019/04/17 · 13:11
106
69 Comments 65 new
Mark Thompson
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Veteran progressive Sirius XM radio host Mark Thompson has been off the air for more than a week. The move came soon after a physical, videotaped altercation that took place in Newark, when an activist approached him after a community event and called him an "Uncle Tom" and a "sell out c00n." Activists with ties to the far right quickly seized on the video and are reportedly using the incident in an attempt to get Thompson fired from his Sirius XM radio show. The dispute stems from a larger campaign by black advocates to target a number of black progressives, including Joy Reid, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Roland Martin, Malcolm Nance, and the Rev. William Barber, among other Trump critics.
"If Thompson is purged on such a thin basis, it will encourage further mischief," warned columnist Richard Rosendall in the Washington Blade. Thompson has hosted the show Make It Plain for 18 years, and his was among the first talk shows hosted by XM Satellite Radio when it debuted in 2001. (XM merged with Sirius in 2008.) He became the first black person in the U.S. to host a daily, national show on a progressive/liberal talk format. In 2013, Thompson was honored at the 104th Annual NAACP Convention in July 2013 “for 25 years of crusading journalism and outstanding leadership in furthering the work of civil and human rights.” (Full disclosure: I've been a fan of Thompson's show for years and have appeared on it many times.)
The somewhat obscure group at the center of the conflict is called ADOS, which stands for American Descendants Of Slaves. They are a pro-reparations collective that's active online. Thompson himself has long been in favor of reparations. But while appearing on MSNBC he criticized the group’s tactics for their exclusive focus on Democrats, which then made him a target of ADOS’s attacks.
While ADOS is pro-reparations, it's also anti-immigration. "There is evidence that ADOS is actually advancing a right-wing agenda, and while it calls itself progressive, it pushes anti-immigrant views," Media Matters noted this week. Specifically, Media Matters points out that ADOS’s cofounder serves as a board member of the right-wing front group Progressives for Immigration Reform (PFIR), which despite its "progressive" name is firmly anti-immigrant and has ties to Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an extremist group run by white nationalist John Tanton. The Southern Poverty Law Center has tagged PFIR a front group for FAIR. The ADOS website praises President Donald Trump and former President Ronald Reagan for their policy views, while attacking former President Barack Obama.
Also, Ann Coulter is a fan, while other white conservatives have pushed coverage of Thompson's altercation online.
"It became apparent to me very quickly that ADOS was an anti-black immigrant movement when scores of ADOS accounts began to harass me, an American-born citizen, for being an immigrant. I was called a “c00n”, a “sell out”, I was told to “go back to Haiti," wrote musician and social activist Talib Kweli Greene after he also came under attack from ADOS. "Supposedly pro-black ADOS folks were using the same exact hateful rhetoric that white supremacists have used on me for years in digital spaces." He concluded that, "ADOS is an insidious right-wing funded anti-immigration hashtag movement cloaked in the righteous language of reparations."
Meanwhile, Thompson supporters are rallying behind him:
I reached out to a Sirius XM spokesperson about Thompson's status, but have not heard back. If I do, I'll include the company's response here.
Anti-immigrant activists are reportedly trying to get liberal radio host Mark Thompson fired
