On CNN, Peterson called NAACP "a hate group"

Summary: Discussing the Jena Six controversy, CNN host Kyra Phillips said, "Let's talk about the reality of the hate groups that are in that area [Jena, Louisiana] and the reality of a mind-set that does exist." In response, conservative commentator Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson asserted: "I also agree that there are hate groups all around the country. There are skinheads, KKK, and the NAACP. The NAACP is a hate group as well."

On the September 26 edition of CNN Newsroom, during a discussion of the events surrounding the Jena Six controversy, host Kyra Phillips said to her guests, CNN contributor Roland Martin and conservative commentator Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, president of the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND): "[L]et's step away from the Jena Six and the criminal justice system, and let's talk about the education. Let's talk about the reality of the people that live" in Jena, Louisiana. Phillips added: "Let's talk about the reality of the hate groups that are in that area and the reality of a mind-set that does exist." In response, Peterson asserted: "I also agree that there are hate groups all around the country. There are skinheads, KKK, and the NAACP. The NAACP is a hate group as well."

As Media Matters for America documented, Peterson and BOND have led a boycott of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), claiming the organization is "a tool of the liberal elite socialist wing of the Democratic Party." And after some members of the Congressional Black Caucus accused the Bush administration of forcing former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to resign, BOND asked the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to investigate the relationship between Aristide and the Congressional Black Caucus.

In his book Scam: How the Black Leadership Exploits Black America (Nelson Current, October 2003), Peterson attacked the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, as well as other black leaders. Peterson is also listed among WorldNetDaily's "cadre of inspiring, knowledgeable speakers." WorldNetDaily describes Peterson as "the most articulate, outspoken critic of the civil-rights establishment in America today."

From the 3 p.m. ET hour of the September 26 edition of CNN Newsroom:

PHILLIPS: Roland, let's step away from the Jena Six and the criminal justice system, and let's talk about the education. Let's talk about the reality of the people that live there. Let's talk about the reality of the hate groups that are in that area and the reality of a mind-set that does exist. We've all seen it experienced and talked individuals on both sides. It's not such an easy issue, as we've been saying, not just a black-and-white issue.

MARTIN: Well, of course not. I mean, Kyra, you've pointed out, as well as other folks that participated, that when you were interviewing whites there, they say, "Look, we get along with the coloreds here in this town." And so that is an issue that is there. We cannot deny it. We're not -- I mean, so let's just not run away from it. Now, the question is whether or not, in this case, was there was equal justice? You have people on both sides. But you also have whites there who said, "You know what? We don't necessarily think they should have been charged with attempted murder, but they should have been charged." I have made that point. I have never said they should get off if they're convicted. But the question is whether you charge juveniles as adults with attempted murder. That was, again, the real primary issue when this story began to blow up and it became national.

PETERSON: I also agree that there are hate groups all around the country. There are skinheads, KKK, the NAACP. The NAACP is a hate group as well.

[laughter]

PETERSON: But the problem is not -- the problem is not the justice system. The problem is that the average black family is out of order. Black men are not marrying black women and helping raise their children and making sure that they're educated. It's about the family and as long as that family --

PHILLIPS: But Reverend Peterson, but don't you think that it's not -- it's not just the black family, but also the white family, too. Don't you agree?

PETERSON: You're right.

PHILLIPS: Because I saw ignorance on both sides.

PETERSON: You're absolutely right. It is happening to the white family as well. But for the last 50 years, you know, the black family has been destroyed. And the government is the daddy of the family, and corrupt black leaders are the head of the folks.

—M.B.B.