{"id":5725,"date":"2014-11-18T19:00:55","date_gmt":"2014-11-19T01:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=5725"},"modified":"2014-11-18T20:32:09","modified_gmt":"2014-11-19T02:32:09","slug":"talk-radio-tumult-wolf-walker-go-at-it-on-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2014\/11\/18\/talk-radio-tumult-wolf-walker-go-at-it-on-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Talk radio tumult: Bruce Wolf, Kelli Walker go at it on race"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bruce<\/a>

<\/a> Bruce Wolf and Dan Proft<\/p><\/div>\n

An on-air discussion about race relations exploded into a heated personal exchange Tuesday between WLS AM 890<\/a> morning host Bruce Wolf and traffic reporter Kelli Walker.<\/p>\n

Wolf, who is white, and Walker, who is black, went far beyond typical radio discourse \u2014 even by the standards of the Cumulus Media news\/talk station.<\/p>\n

\"Kelli<\/a>

Kelli Walker<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cYour ignorance and lack of knowledge is absolutely unbelievable,\u201d Walker told Wolf at one point, accusing him of \u201cracist connotations\u201d in his comments. Wolf denied Walker\u2019s claim, shooting back: \u201cYou are slandering me right now. I am not a racist.\u201d<\/p>\n

The incident began shortly before 7 a.m. when Wolf was setting up a conversation with co-host Dan Proft on the pending grand jury decision in Ferguson, Missouri. Quoting a National Review article, Wolf referred to \u201cthe liberal mindset\u201d and \u201cthe legacy of slavery\u201d impeding the progress of blacks in America since the civil rights movement. When Wolf went on to cite \u201cthe culture of victimhood that doesn\u2019t help the black community,\u201d Walker erupted and broke in.<\/p>\n

Here is a transcript of their exchange:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolf:<\/strong> We\u2019ve gotten to a point now where because \u2014 and this is part of a whole cultural trend \u2014 you\u2019ve got single parenthood, you don\u2019t have two-parent families like you used to have in the black community even when they were poor, you\u2019ve got the murder rate, which doubled between 1960 and 1980, and the whole victimhood culture . . .<\/p>\n

Walker:<\/strong> It\u2019s not a victimhood culture.<\/p>\n

Wolf:<\/strong> Yes, it is.<\/p>\n

Walker:<\/strong> No, it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

Wolf:<\/strong> It absolutely is.<\/p>\n

Walker:<\/strong> No, it really isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Wolf:<\/strong> I\u2019m sorry, but that\u2019s what the liberals have done and . . .<\/p>\n

Walker:<\/strong> No, that\u2019s what you<\/em> think. But that\u2019s not what it is.<\/p>\n

Wolf:<\/strong> Well what do you mean it isn\u2019t? Tell me. What do you mean it isn\u2019t? Explain.<\/p>\n

Walker:<\/strong> First of all, especially a person who is Jewish should understand what the struggle against blacks and what black people have had to go through, I would think that you of all people would understand that.<\/p>\n

Wolf:<\/strong> I certainly do understand that. I certainly do. But I can only . . .<\/p>\n

Walker:<\/strong> OK, then, so then how can you sit here and write off that slavery had nothing to do with how blacks have been treated in this country?<\/p>\n

Wolf:<\/strong> Nowadays it\u2019s been the liberal policies of the last generation \u2014 the so-called War on Poverty \u2014 which has exacerbated the problems that black people face . . .<\/p>\n

Walker:<\/strong> OK.<\/p>\n

Wolf:<\/strong>\u00a0. . . whereas the trend was in the other direction.<\/p>\n

Proft:<\/strong> I would also say, I mean look, has the promise of Brown v. Board of Education<\/em> been fulfilled? I mean you had de jure segregation under Jim Crow and before Brown.<\/em> You know, segregation by law, by force of government. Now you have de facto segregation. I mean look at the Chicago Public Schools.<\/p>\n

Walker:<\/strong> Well you guys want to write off \u2014 what is it? \u2014 affirmative action. So how else are blacks or others who\u2019ve been mistreated . . .<\/p>\n

Wolf:<\/strong> I want people who are qualified to get into school or get into jobs on the basis of their . . .<\/p>\n

Walker:<\/strong> Well how do we get qualified if we don\u2019t get educated?<\/p>\n

Wolf:<\/strong> You don\u2019t get the job if you\u2019re not qualified in the first place.<\/p>\n

Walker:<\/strong> OK, well how do I get qualified if I don\u2019t get the education? Where can I get my education when you don\u2019t want to sit there and educate any black people at all?<\/p>\n

Wolf:<\/strong> Who says I don\u2019t want to educate back people?<\/p>\n

Walker:<\/strong> OK, where do we get the education if you\u2019re not going to let us in over affirmative action?<\/p>\n

Wolf:<\/strong> Have you been listening to this show about school choice all the time?<\/p>\n

Walker:<\/strong> Have you<\/em> been listening to this show? You, you. Whatever. [Turns off microphone.]<\/em><\/p>\n

Wolf:<\/strong> OK. Thank you, thank you. Thank you for running away. I was trying to engage you in a conversation.<\/p>\n

Walker:<\/strong> No, you don\u2019t try to engage in conversations, Bruce. You try to engage in controversy. Your ignorance and lack of knowledge is absolutely unbelievable.<\/p>\n

Wolf:<\/strong> OK, I guess we\u2019ve got an ongoing problem here.<\/p>\n

[After a break]<\/em><\/p>\n

Wolf:<\/strong> We had a little contretemps here with Kelli Walker a moment ago. A discussion about race relations . . .<\/p>\n

Walker:<\/strong> First of all, you can speak of me. I\u2019m sitting right here.<\/p>\n

Wolf:<\/strong> I am. I am.<\/p>\n

Walker:<\/strong> OK.<\/p>\n

Wolf:<\/strong> Kelli, welcome to the show. You\u2019ve always been welcomed to talk about things. We\u2019re getting a lot of texts about it. It was about race relations and such. You said that I engage in controversy, not conversation. I\u2019m suggesting our motto change to \u201cControversy Spoken Here.\u201d But anyway, I\u2019ve always been in favor of education of black people. That\u2019s why I favor school choice and having it be more democratic . . . and not be hostage to the Chicago Teachers Union. So I am in favor of education of black people.<\/p>\n

Proft:<\/strong> Who\u2019s opposed to that?<\/p>\n

Wolf:<\/strong> Kelli said that I wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Walker:<\/strong> No, that really isn\u2019t. You were . . .<\/p>\n

Proft:<\/strong> The issue is what works, to me.<\/p>\n

Walker:<\/strong> Right, but without all of the racist connotations. We can do without that, Bruce.<\/p>\n

Wolf:<\/strong> What were the racist connotations that I made? Because you are slandering me right now. I am not a racist.<\/p>\n

Walker:<\/strong> First of all, I am not slandering you. If I was slandering you, you would totally know it. So if you want to take this conversation . . .<\/p>\n

Wolf:<\/strong> I do know it. You just called me a racist. Now tell me how I\u2019m a racist.<\/p>\n

Walker:<\/strong> You know what? First of all, Bruce, if you\u2019ve got something to say to me, you say it to me off the air because this conversation that you\u2019re trying to engage me in on air is not getting ready to happen. OK? Forget it.<\/p>\n

Wolf:<\/strong> You started talking to me on the air.<\/p>\n

Walker:<\/strong> Forget it, Bruce.<\/p>\n

Wolf:<\/strong> You interjected on the air.<\/p>\n

Walker:<\/strong> No. Forget it. Because all you want to do again is create controversy instead of having an intelligent conversation. You don\u2019t want to do that. So you know what? Forget it.\u00a0\u00a0[Turns off microphone.]<\/em><\/p>\n

Wolf:<\/strong> OK. I do recall that Kelli interjected in our conversation here, and that I tried to engage her in conversation. But I understand the rules are: when she wants to start talking, she can start talking, and when she wants to stop talking, she can stop talking. I understand the double standard here and I\u2019m willing to live with it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An on-air discussion about race relations exploded into a heated personal exchange Tuesday between WLS AM 890 morning host Bruce Wolf and traffic reporter Kelli Walker. Wolf, who is white, and Walker, who is black, went far beyond typical radio discourse \u2014 even by the standards of the Cumulus Media news\/talk station.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5725"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5725"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5737,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5725\/revisions\/5737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}