CNN’s Nia-Malika Henderson says US racism a ‘white cultural problem’

The mass shooting in Buffalo on Saturday in which a white gunman allegedly targeted black grocery shoppers shows that white Americans must do more “to come to terms with their own appeasement” of racism, according to a CNN reporter.

Nia-Malika Henderson, who covers politics for the all-news cable network, said racism in America is a “white cultural problem.”

She was speaking on Tuesday after President Biden traveled to western New York to visit the site of the shooting that killed 10 people. Thirteen people in total were shot — 11 of whom were black.

The alleged gunman, 18-year-old Payton Gendron, cited the so-called “replacement theory” as a motive for the shootings. The theory holds that minorities and immigrants are being welcomed into the country in order to replace whites.

During an appearance on Tuesday’s “Inside Politics,” Henderson said racism was a “white cultural problem” and that white Americans ought to take the lead in combating prejudice.

“You know, oftentimes, it is African Americans who talk about racism,” she said. Her comments were cited by the news site Mediaite.

Henderson made the remarks on Tuesday during a broadcast of CNN’s “Inside Politics.” Corbis via Getty Images

“It is really a white cultural problem that white Americans have to come to terms with. Why is it that African Americans and brown and black people are more generally are seen as the other or demonized so easily in a lot of our politics?” Henderson said.

She said the debate around immigration also includes similar tropes that “demonize” minorities.

“You know we sort of talk about white supremacy but it’s also the ways in which people talk about folks coming across the border, the demonization of it goes around — about those folks, that somehow they also are a threat to Americans,” Henderson said.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday blasted unnamed public figures for pushing the racist “replacement theory,” saying they “should be ashamed of themselves.” 

While Jean-Pierre did not name anyone specific, top Democrats pointed the finger at Fox News Channel, which is owned by the sister company of News Corp., the parent company of The Post.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) sent a letter to Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of the board of Fox Corporation, and his son Lachlan, the company CEO, on Tuesday.

Schumer urged them to “immediately cease the reckless amplification of the so-called ‘Great Replacement’ theory on your network’s broadcasts.” 

Tucker Carlson, the network’s highest-rated primetime host, has been accused by liberal critics of trumpeting the theory.

Henderson was reacting to President Biden’s visit to Buffalo, where a mass shooter killed 10 people on Saturday. NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via

On his show on Tuesday, Carlson said that while “we’re still not sure exactly what” great replacement theory is, he added that there is “a strong political component to the Democratic Party’s immigration policy.”

Carlson then played a clip showing senior Democrats touting the country’s changing demographics.