Syracuse Prof Compares Gang Riot to Boston Tea Party

Syracuse Professor Dr Boyce Watkins, author of What if George Bush was a Black Man?, compared the rioting of Toledo gang members to the Boston Tea Party just minutes ago on Hannity & Colmes.

It was the first time in recent memory that both Hannity & Colmes seemed to think that their guest was an idiot.

As Drudge might say, "Developing..."

Update: Ian Schwartz at The Political Teen has the video.

A partial transcript, picking up at the 2:00 mark:

Sean Hannity: But I don't understand the few people here... How do you.. you can't say poverty caused people to throw rocks at ambulances.

Boyce Watkins: I'm not saying that poverty causes peope to do anything, but the fact is that if you just look at the symptoms and you don't look at the cause, then you're always going to wonder,well What in the world's making people behave that way? You don't have the right to judge people who are in situations you don't understand...

Sean Hannity: Yes we do, yes we do...

*crosstalk*

Boyce Watkins: No, No...

*crosstalk*

Sean Hannity:.. we, we have the right to discern. sir, you are rationalizing -- hang on a second, I'll let you talk -- we have a right to discern
right and wrong, and people, good people, don't like those people who were marching [neo-nazis in a parade. --ed] and good people find it repulsive that people who are there in a community to help save lives have their windsheilds pelted out with rocks. Good people can discern right and wrong, you don't throw rocks at police cars sir--

Boyce Watkins: But good people will support programs that will give the angry youth opportunities so that they don't feel angry. You think this riot is because of... *crosstalk* This riot wasn't due to the neo-Nazis...

Alan Colmes: Boyce, hold on... Boyce this is Alan Colmes in New York. you can't make any excuses for this behavior, and the best thing that could have happened *crosstalk* -- hold on, and I'll give you a full chance to respond -- the best thing that could have happened to these neo-Nazis when they came to Toledo would be ignore them, and unfortunately, that's not what happened.

Boyce Watkins: I agree with you. I agree with you, but the thing is that if you simply look at the actions and you don't try to understand what is really going on, you're going to wonder why they're behaving this way. If you look at the Boston Tea Party for example--

Alan Colmes: You compare this to the Boston Tea Party?

Boyce Watkins: Yes, yes, becuase the fact is that you can look at the Boston Tea Party and say oh, well those thugs they're stealing tea, what wrong with them? But the fact is that there was a reason they were doing this--

Alan Colmes: A movement like the Boston Tea Party? You can't make that analogy!

Boyce Watkins: No-no-no-no. You don't define it as a movement, but the fact is that those peope who ae suffering do. And I'm not saying that all this was justified--

Alan Colmes: You're making excuses for them!

Boyce Watkins: No, I don't judge... I believe in a safer America, but if you want a safer America, you must have a fair and equitable America, in which everyone is given access to the same american Dream that you--

Alan Colmes: You're making it sound, Dr. Watkins, as if poverty somehow excuses the kind of behavior we're showing on our screen.

Boyce Watkins: Poverty, Poverty is not an excuse, but it s partly an explanation. And there's a diffrence between being poor and being trapped in poverty. And so until we as a country fully address the poverty issue, we're going to have another Katrina situation, we'e going to have another Toledo situation, we're going to have another Rodney King sitation...

Alan Colmes: That's a fine line between excuse and explanation.

[italics mine]

Yeah, gangbangers throwing bricks at squad cars is the exact same thing as colonists protesting excessive taxation without representation.