Fox News stirring up racial fears in America

Members of the New Black Panther Party had allegedly intimidated voters who looked as if they may not vote for now US President Barack Obama, FOX News has been extensively covering the story.

Allegedly members of the New Black Panther Party positioned themselves outside of a polling station in Philadelphia with the intent to intimidate voters as they arrived to cast their votes during the 2008 presidential election.

“I have been predicting that the attack would increase as we go into the elections, because this whole so called voter intimidation controversy is just a tool by the Republicans,” said Dr. Malik Zulu Shabazz, the chairman of the New Black Panther Party.

Shabazz said he expects the attacks to increase and he expects to see ads featuring the New Black Panther Party as well as new allegations against them.

“They [Fox News] have no intention on being, as they say, fair and balanced. They want to paint us as extremists and they don’t want the truth to come out because they have political purposes,” said Shabazz.

He continued, later adding that “this is just part of the right wing paranoia in playing on racial fears, unfounded racial fears in every way. I say Fox News should be ashamed of themselves. We used to be on Fox for years, but now they won’t call us, but they like to talk about us but they are afraid to talk to me and us.”

Shabazz argued that the charges against the New Black Panther Party have no merit. It was not an organizational conspiracy by the organization, he said.

“There’s not even one voter or anybody that came to the poll that said they were intimidated,” said Shabazz.

Fox News is trying to stir up the Tea Party and anti-Obama movement by pulling on racial fears, argued Shabazz. He said that in the end however these groups will fail.

The Fox News Channel is currently the number one cable news channel in America. Shabazz attributes this to their audience, which he said is made up of mostly whites, Republicans, some independents, Confederates, hard right-wingers and racist organizations.

“It’s really the dissatisfied whites in America that are saying they want to take their country back. We interpret that as meaning take our country back from this black man who happens to be the president,” said Shabazz.

Shabazz said that Fox News is a “manipulation machine” and that until we have unbiased media in America we will not see truth in the media.