Fraters Libertas

Shades of Gray

Wendy Wilde, local Air America radio show host, comments on why she's asking for a tanning salon membership for Christmas this year:

... I actually live in a community that is 50 percent non-White. And I'm not really White, I'm beige, which is kind of a combination of different colors. But you're right -- I'm not a member of a racial minority community.

Actually, that comment isn't the preamble to a Christmas list, it's an excerpt from an interview Wendy Wilde conducted last month with failed Minneapolis Mayoral candidate Farheen Hakeem. According to the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, they got into an on-air spat about who is keeping it real and Ms. Wilde went on the defensive:

Wendy Wilde: But I guess I don't like being told I don't understand, either. I live in a community that has one of the higher crime rates in Minneapolis, and we chose to live there because we wanted our children exposed to a great diversity of people, and all of the cultural benefits that they would gain from that.

Farheen Hakeem: Well, good for you! That's good to know.

That is a perfect response to Wendy Wilde's bleeding heart sacrificial offer, articulated in other words as "you see what we put up with to live next to you people?!"

I'll take Wilde at her word that she's living in a crime-riddled neighborhood (Uptown? Downtown? South Minneapolis? North Minneapolis? The possibilities are endless.) But remember, it's all for the good of the children!

Read the Spokesman-Recorder article for an extended transcript of the Wendy Wilde show on which this argument occurred. It's a fascinating look into the conscience of a liberal. But enjoy it while you can, it may be the last time you ever see such a thing in print:

Janet Roberts, AM 950 station manager, supports Wilde's position completely, although she said she was very disappointed that the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder would be printing excerpts of the interview "out of context" and that the station hardly ever releases interviews to the public.

"I never would have given you a copy of the show had I known you would use it in this fashion," said Roberts. "I will never give your media outlet another copy of anything, or work with you."

Air America Radio, where dissent is crushed and a chill wind silences all debate. Who knows, maybe that policy will improve their ratings? It sure couldn't make them much worse.