In attempting to engage in what could have been an interesting discussion about the current state of American race relations, CNN made a terrible decision. CNN.com posted an article today about white racial anxiety -- a perfectly reasonable subject to discuss. What is not reasonable is interviewing and quoting figures like radio host James Edwards, whose show, The Political Cesspool, has a “Statement of Principles” that says the show “represent[s] a philosophy that is pro-White.” Reinforcing the philosophy, Edwards has written in a blog post that "[i]nterracial sex is white genocide."

The show's “Statement of Principles” includes: “We wish to revive the White birthrate above replacement level fertility and beyond to grow the percentage of Whites in the world relative to other races.” And Edwards regularly attacks Asians, Blacks, Jews, and Hispanics on his blog.

Among the things Edwards has written:

August 11, 2008: “For blacks in the Americas, slavery is the greatest thing that ever happened to them. Unfortunately, it's the worst thing that ever happened to white Americans.”

In an August 6, 2008, post headlined “Jewish media reaches new heights,” discussing a Slate.com article by “Jew Timothy Noah,” Edwards wrote that the piece would “make sense once you understand that Jews are the ones who are always speaking in code; when they use words like 'racists', 'bigots', 'anti-semites', they simply mean white people.”

In a July 9, 2008, post headlined “Great moments in Jewish journalism,” Edwards referred to a column by The Washington Post's David S. Broder about former Sen. Jesse Helms as “another hatefilled Jewish attack piece.”

In a July 30, 2008, post, Edwards asked: “If the WNBA [Women's National Basketball Association] is so hell bent on diversity, why don't they hire a couple of heterosexual players or coaches?”

In a June 6, 2008, post headlined “Does she hate Whitey?” Edwards wrote: “Michelle Obama, that is. Uh, yeah, I'm pretty sure she does. Just like her husband. Just like about 90% of blacks.”

The CNN article also quotes Peter Brimelow, whose website VDARE.com publishes the work of “white nationalists.” Discussing racial demographics in Texas, Brimelow recently wrote:

The most glaring problem with CNN's treatment of Brimelow and Edwards is that it presents the nature of their views as a he said/she said matter -- i.e., the Southern Poverty Law Center says they run hate groups, but they deny that. Any fair-minded look at their public statements would show that they espouse the view that minorities are inferior to white people.

Another important point about this treatment of white racial anxiety: It is completely unfair to white people who don't hold hateful views of minorities. If you are seeking perspective on “what white people think about race,” you have committed journalistic malpractice by quoting people like Brimelow and Edwards. They can't be said to be in any way representative of what white people think.

Treating Brimelow and Edwards this way has the same effect as treating the New Black Panther Party as representative of black people. They're not. Plain and simple.

The section of the article that quotes Edwards begins with a subhead that reads, “Diversity is not strength” :

'Diversity is not strength' Some white commentators are unapologetic about this racial anxiety. Peter Brimelow, author of “Alien Nation: Common Sense About America's Immigration Disaster,” asserts that much of white America's anxiety derives from living under a black president and changing demographics. Diversity, he says, “is not strength.” Brimelow's website, VDARE.COM, has been described as a hate site by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a group that tracks extremist groups in the U.S. Some may see him as extreme, but Brimelow argues in his columns that more white Americans are moving toward his stance on immigration and other issues. He cites as proof the rise of the Tea Party movement and the racial makeup of Beck's march on Washington. He says more whites recognize, even if it's only on a subliminal level, that they have common interests to defend. “Of course, they would deny this, quite sincerely, if you put it to them because the idea of whites defending their interests as whites is quite new,” he says. “Americans are trained to think that any explicit defense of white interests is 'racist.' ” Sociologist Charles Gallagher says more whites regard themselves as an embattled minority group. James Edwards, host of the “Political Cesspool” radio show, isn't shy about naming those interests. He says white Americans have become the “dispossessed majority” and that coming demographic changes may turn the United States into a “Third-World flop-house.” Edwards, who is considered a white nationalist by the Southern Poverty Law Center, says whites must organize like other stigmatized groups. “There is nothing wrong for Jewish organizations to promote the self-interest of Jews or black organizations to promote the interest of blacks,” he says. “There is no organization to stand up to advance the interests of the dispossessed majority.” Those white interests have been compromised by what he sees as the “preferential treatment” blacks have received in the job market to compensate for slavery, Edwards says. “Whatever mistakes might have been made in our pasts, they have not only been corrected, but they've been overcompensated for,” he says. Now whites are victims of pervasive racism, Edwards says. “They're the victims of it every day. Anything a white conservative does that a liberal doesn't like is called racism.” Both Brimelow and Edwards reject outright the Southern Poverty Law Center's description of their organizations as extremist.

Even if your goal is to accurately report on the views of people who hold “pro-White” views or sympathize with “white nationalists,” setting up interviews with them and disseminating their message to a wider audience is the wrong way to go about it. People who are openly bigoted make plenty of statements about what they think, which could easily be quoted. Allowing them to offer fresh thoughts through your reporting presents them an opportunity to promote their views.

James Edwards has done exactly that with the CNN article. Here's the beginning of his blog post promoting the article, headlined “James Edwards featured in major CNN story” :

CNN.com has just published a major article entitled, “Are whites racially oppressed?” Based upon my previous appearances on CNN's television shows I was sought after for comment and have been featured in this story. You may read it here in its entirety.

While much of the article may be a fair-handed examination of white racial anxiety, CNN made some major mistakes in its execution.