I Wrote An Email, Yes I Did...

Driving home this afternoon from work and shopping, well...

Attn: 850 KOA Program Director

Hello. I was driving home this afternoon (Sunday) and tuned to 850 in hopes of catching the last few minutes of the Rockies game, forgetting that it was an central time road game and already over.

I tuned in at 3:40pm, and the very first words from my speakers were literally, verbatim, "Barack Obama is John Kerry in blackface."

Now, I'm fairly politically central, and the political ramifications of that statement simply don't interest me, but the gentleman very confidently repeated the exact same sentence seven times in the next five minutes, with pride and vigor.

A few things. One; is describing any black man as any other man 'in blackface' appropriate? Ever? Really? Second; Wouldn't John Kerry in blackface, at any time, anywhere, be offensive to everyone in and of itself?

I listened long enough to get the host's local KOA aircheck mention in, but did not catch his name and wasn't really in the mood to wait for it. I'm of african american, native american, scottish, and irish descent, and I found his words not only inflammatory but rather unnecessary and, above all, quite stupid.

His point - that Obama has similar political policies to the Kerry presidential campaign - aren't relevant to the statement made in any way. A hypothetical John Kerry-in-blackface wouldn't resemble Obama politically nor physically, and would be ostracized within milliseconds.

His literal words infer that Barack Obama is an older white male war veteran and former presidential candidate posing as a black man in the worst possible manner, and if this is the case not only would said person be ostracized but he should be investigated for campaign and identity fraud. You get my point.

KOA is a supposedly reputable and historic radio institution, and to allow someone on the air who would say something that inflammatory is rather disgusting. The fact that you'd allow a host to use such an improper and categorically stupid analogy demonstrates a disregard for professionalism and the english language, something distinguished broadcasting icons are supposed to respect and uphold.

Regards,
T.