"The Down-Low Delusion": On "The View" television show, "comedians-turned-talking heads" D.L. Hughley and Sheri Shepherd made statements concerning "down low" African-American men and HIV infections among African-American women. Hughley: "They are getting it from men who are on the down low." Shepherd: "Thw down low is African-American men who have sex with men and then have sex with their girlfriends--or their wives. They're husbands, as well. It's very prevalent in the African-American community. Very." Kellee Terrell's Root article comments that "neither one of these comedians-turned-talking heads is an AIDS expert," and that "nowadays, having expertise (or an ounce of knowledge on a topic) is not mandatory for a media platform. Anyone with a camera aimed at them can spout off at the mouth, claiming that fiction is fact, and it goes completely unchallenged." While "closeted black men exist, . . . contrary to popular belief, the DL is not a major force in the rise of HIV infections among black women in this country."
"Trashing Thurgood Marshall": Sherrilyn Ifill writes that "Republican members of the [Senate Judiciary] committee used their opeing statements to unleash an orchestrated disparagement of the record and legacy of Supreme Court justice and civil rights icon Thurgood Marshall . . . The invocation of Marshall (35 times by Republicans) was a surprising new low, even for the shameless opportunism of modern confirmation hearings."
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