"Black crime" was no longer just a racist tag for far-right websites Monday, after Sebastian Gorka started talking about "black African gun crime" on Sinclair Broadcast stations.
Gorka, a former White House adviser for President Donald Trump, said during a town hall-style event produced by Sinclair that action was needed to curb gun crime among "black Africans."
"Our big issue is black African gun crime against black Africans," Gorka said. "It is a tragedy. Go to Chicago, go to the cities run by Democrats. For 40 years, black young men are murdering each other by the bushel. This is a social issue. Allow the police to do their jobs and rebuild those societies. Legislation will not save lives."
On a Sinclair station, Gorka refers to "black African crime on black African crime" & says black men are killing each other "by the bushel" pic.twitter.com/Cbtqm39tTd
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) October 24, 2017
The statement shocked even moderators on the Sinclair panel, as they quickly tried to clarify that Gorka was referring to African-Americans. That Sinclair even had to remind viewers that the U.S. was not apartheid South Africa speaks volumes to the type of content the conservative outlet produces.
Sinclair is a Maryland-based media company known for its support of Trump during the 2016 campaign. It is the nation’s largest owner of TV stations, with 173 in 81 cities nationwide. Its stations interviewed Trump throughout election season, helping normalize the former real estate mogul as a serious candidate. After the election, Jared Kushner told business executives that Trump's campaign had struck a deal with Sinclair Broadcast Group to secure better media coverage, Politico reported in December.
Since the election, Sinclair has trotted out some of Trump's former advisers to speak on behalf of the administration. Boris Epshteyn, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, inked a deal with Sinclair as an adviser last year. The Baltimore Sun has called some of his commentary "as close to classic propaganda as anything I have seen in broadcast television in the last 30 years."
Gorka's "black African crime" statement was just another racially-charged media hit for the former Breitbart editor. Gorka appeared on Sean Hannity's show in September to denounce the NFL protests, using fascistic language to get his point across.
"The red of that flag, the stripes in that flag, that's the same red as the blood of Americans that fought and died for this nation," Gorka told lawyer Daryl Parks.
Right-wing websites such as the Federalist and Breitbart have come under fire in recent years for using a "black crime" tag to describe news stories about crimes involving black suspects. The practice was racist for emphasizing crime in the black community — a way to scaremonger readers who may already hold white nationalist beliefs. Gorka has now introduced that "black crime" section to America's broadcast stations.
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