CHARLES PAYNE (HOST): Well last night Beyonce had a political message to convey during her halftime performance at the Super Bowl. Her routine, well some say it had a reference to Malcolm X, and her wardrobe was reportedly inspired by the Black Panthers. And of course, this coming amid the growing war against police, where now you've got a Texas newspaper announcing they are going to publish the names and addresses of every San Antonio police officer following a deadly officer shooting last week. Rod Wheeler joins me now. Rod, let's start with the new Beyonce song and video, and apparently making reference to New Orleans, and you know the recent spat of course, a lot of violence going between the police and these particularly urban neighborhoods. You know, for me personally, I just never understand why we don't hear much about the black on black violence in a place like New Orleans, where I think it's a far more significant threat to the people that live there.
ROD WHEELER: Well, it is. Good evening to you, Charles, and you know when you look at the Super Bowl halftime commercial, you have to say to yourself -- and I saw this commercial just like 120 million other Americans saw this commercial, do we have to be inundated with people's political feelings and their political savvy, whatever that may be? Do we have to actually watch that? And that's exactly what Beyonce did during her performance yesterday. She really gave the middle finger to police officers all across the country, and I think that that was clearly not the place for her actions.
PAYNE: But you say there is a place for it, that there is a place for this dialogue to happen?
WHEELER: Yeah. You know what, here's the thing Charles, if Beyonce really doesn't care about police officers, if she really wants to support the Black Lives Matter movement, and the Black Panthers and those kind of folks, you know what she can do? She can buy a thirty second commercial spot. It's only 4.5 million, that's chump change to her. She can buy a commercial spot and she could say anything she wants within that 30 seconds, but why does my family and 120 million other Americans, why do we have to be subjected to her political agenda? And I just think it's wrong and clearly that's not the place for it. Now, she can dance, she can spin, she can twirl, she can do all of these things, and that's great. But what she can't do is force her political feelings down my throat, and down the throat of a lot of other Americans.
