Disney Radio host, Brian Sussman, calls Barak Obama a "halfrican"

Just in case you missed it while it was on the front page of Media Matters starting Thursday December 07 , 2006.

Check out Melanie Morgan co-host on "Halfrican" Obama.


(L-R Melanie Morgan, Brian Sussman, Tom Brenner "Officer Vic")

From the December 4 edition of KSFO's Sussman, Morgan & Vic:

MORGAN: Senator Obama, who is, as you call, a 'Halfrican' --

SUSSMAN: Halfrican and, again, his father was -- his father was from Kenya, his mother's white. OK, now, I have nothing with mixed -- nothing against mixed-race people but, my point is, when this guy stands in front of a black audience, pretending like he was born and raised in the hood, and he can identify with their problems, he doesn't allow -- he is not, in my opinion -- 'cause my opinion is your average white guy -- he is not allowed to wear the African-American badge because his family are not the descendants of slaves, OK? He can't identify with the discrimination and the slavery and all of that that's gone into these black families for generations; he's a kid who was raised with a silver spoon in his mouth in a white family in Hawaii, OK? You wanna call me names for saying this? Go right ahead. I'm just telling you what the guy is.

MORGAN: Well --

TOM BENNER (aka "Officer Vic," KSFO morning traffic reporter): And you're not making this up. I mean, it's documented, for goodness sake. You can look it up.

SUSSMAN: I'm not making this up, so I just -- I get offended and I know I have many black friends who get offended when he stands in front of that black audience talking like he's from the hood, born and raised, and I can -- can identify with all of their issues. He can't!

MORGAN: Well, and guess what? It's working. It's working big-time.

(Audio link)

---Now I know that Sussman has a whole patter about why he feels he can use this term (I get the impression that he has adopted children of mixed races, but I'm not sure) he clearly has a strong story to explain why he can say things like this whereas Morgan can't. But as my friend pointed out to me,

So what if he can? That's still a slur and racist, and *he's* not black. Hell, that would be derogatory if a black person said it about another black person, kind of like how it's derogatory for a black person to call another black person an "oreo," (black on the outside, white on the inside) or for a Native person to call another Native person an "apple" (red on the outside, white on the inside) . It's derogatory because it says negative things about *both* groups he's talking about, and he doesn't get to make that call, black adopted kids or not.

And always remember folks this commercially supported broadcast radio is brought to you by The Walt Disney Company! And ABC Radio! Advertisers should know what they are funding so they can make their own decision if they want to support this "Hot Talk".