Could the coronavirus be racist? CBS This Morning explored that angle on Monday as reporter Jericka Duncan brought on a far-left network contributor (a man who has refused to condemn the anti-Semitism of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar). The segment began by examining the perfectly valid topic of whether certain groups of people are more likely to get the virus. But then Duncan veered into a discussion with Ibram X. Kendi, explaining, “CBS News contributor Ibram X. Kendi is also the director of the Antiracist Policy Center at American University.”

Kendi said of the virus, “If we don’t have an awareness of racial disparities, we can't right now figure out what's causing those racial disparities, what policies or even lack thereof and we can't change it, right now in the moment, when people are dying and being infected.”

Who is Kendi? The CBS contributor appeared on the July 16, 2019 edition of This Morning and defended Congresswoman Omar, a woman who called Israel "evil":

She was very specific in criticizing the policies of a country. In this case, the country was Israel. Trump has specifically criticized racial groups of people. When he said that Mexicans are rapists. When he said that black people, a trait of blacks is laziness. This is a condemnation of a racial group of people. That is, effectively, racism. When we criticize a country's policies, that is not — when you criticize Israeli policies, that's not anti-Semitic. But when you say there's something wrong with Jews, that is. I haven't heard her say that.

So, it would seem that he can’t be too much of an expert on fighting bigotry. Yet, on March 10, 2020, CBS again brought him on to talk about the racism of words like these: Black Monday, black sheep, blackballing, blackmail, blacklisting.

During parts of the segment on Monday, the coronavirus was linked to racism. Duncan introduced Milwaukee’s Public Health Commissioner, noting that she “calls racism a public health issue.” Again, obviously, if certain groups are more prone to get the virus, that’s a problem and data should be collected. But what is the point of bringing on political activists like Kendi? A man who couldn’t even condemn obvious anti-Semitic bigotry?

A transcript of the segment is below. Click “expand” to read more.