Belling: "You wonder why racism occurs ... when a minority person moves in. The answer is because sometimes it does mean an increase in crime"

On the December 10 broadcast of his Milwaukee radio show, host Mark Belling discussed reports about violence in a northwest Milwaukee neighborhood between rival Hmong-American criminal gangs and declared: "Whether it's blacks, Mexican-Americans, whatever, people who live in a neighborhood should not have to put up with newcomers deciding that that neighborhood is going to be 'Crimeville.' " Belling continued: "You wonder why racism occurs, why people fear 'look what's happening to the neighborhood' when some -- when a minority person moves in. The answer is because sometimes it does mean an increase in crime."

As Media Matters for America has documented, on the September 11 broadcast of The Mark Belling Late Afternoon Show, Belling asserted that "[o]ne of the reasons for the dysfunction in the inner city of Milwaukee is that black voters themselves do not hold their own officials accountable. Everybody else does." Later, he stated, "Instead of continually screaming racism and blaming all the white people in the community, look inward and take a look at the lazy, useless people that you are electing to represent you." He went on to say: "In most areas of the white community, when we have a do-nothing, useless public official, we know enough to vote them out, not defend them from the attacks of everyone else."

Belling's show is carried on News/Talk 1130 WISN-AM in Milwaukee, owned by Clear Channel Communications. Talkers magazine includes Belling in its "Heavy Hundred" list, which it describes as a list of the "100 most important radio talk show hosts in America."

From the December 10 broadcast of WISN's The Mark Belling Late Afternoon Show:

BELLING: Apparently the northwest side, including a neighborhood that has a lot of very, very nice but small houses, is the new battleground for these two gangs. The city of Milwaukee is seeking to essentially close a house that is right in the middle of the crossfire of all of this after requests by neighbors to please do something about this. The house is on West Acacia Street. It's owned by a man who has since moved out of town. His name is Cher Va Lor. He acknowledges that two of his sons are leaders of the Menace of Destruction, which is one of the large Asian gangs in Milwaukee. The Menace of Destruction has apparently been at war with the Asian Crips. According to the story in the newspaper and backed up by the communications that were sent to me, residents have been writing letters to the city begging to do something about this.

And I do know the neighborhood. It's kind of one of those areas that's sort of hooked in -- where it's still Milwaukee's city limits but near Wauwatosa. It's a very quiet, very nice neighborhood, and all of a sudden they see their neighborhood being destroyed because of these violent gangs that are literally firing gunshots at one another in an attempt to control the turf. The vast majority of the individuals involved in both gangs are Hmong or Hmong-American. The property owner, Cher Va Lor, is a Hmong-American who came to the United States in 1989.

Whether it's blacks, Mexican-Americans, whatever, people who live in a neighborhood should not have to put up with newcomers deciding that that neighborhood is going to be "Crimeville." You wonder why racism occurs, why people fear "look what's happening to the neighborhood" when some -- when a minority person moves in. The answer is because sometimes it does mean an increase in crime. In this case, this particular guy comes to the United States, raises a family full of gangbangers, and then like a typical slime, moves out of town and leaves the house vacant so it becomes a shooting gallery.