We recently brought you the story of Bob Dumas, a controversial disc jockey with Clear Channel's G-105 radio station in Raleigh, N.C. He was the target of a protest by North Carolina's American Indian leaders over derogatory comments he made after learning an intern was getting married to a member of the Lumbee Tribe.

This week, leaders with the N.C. Commission of Indian Affairs accepted an apology from the station and are no longer seeking his firing. That decision followed a meeting with G-105's general manager, who promised that the station will no longer air negative stereotypes of American Indians.

However, the Lumbee Tribe -- which has a history of militancy in the face of racist attacks -- has not been so quick to forgive. Lumbee leaders continue to demand the firing of Dumas and his crew and are calling for a boycott of the station's advertisers. Tribal Chair Jimmy Goins is also urging members to send a letter [PDF] to the Federal Communications Commission requesting an investigation. Said Goins:

"I just want to put G105, Bob and the Show Gram, Raleigh, American Indians and Lumbee tribal members on notice ... I stand willing and ready to push this as far as possible; until Bob Dumas, Mike and Kristin are fired, the show is off the air and bigotry like this is no longer tolerated in the great State of North Carolina."

Meanwhile, Dumas is involved in a new controversy -- this one involving Hispanics.

Earlier this month, a member of his crew visited the Mexican consulate in Raleigh wearing a T-shirt that had taped to it a sign reading "INS," the acronym for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, an agency replaced five years ago by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He approached people in line and asked them what they were doing there, the Fayetteville Observer reported.

Meanwhile, Dumas told his listeners, "It made me a little mad when I saw the giant Mexican flag" outside the offices. He also accused those seeking services at the consulate of being illegal aliens, according to the paper:

Though some of them told Clark that they had come to get passports, Dumas continued with an on-air spiel that they were largely illegal aliens.

"Where are their American papers?" he asked Clark from the studio. "What do they have proving they’re American citizens?"

Dumas concluded that these Mexicans "don’t have American documents."

Then, as the consulate’s [Ricardo] Pintado tried to explain the reasons why Mexicans come to the consulate, Dumas cut him off mid-sentence. Pintado serves as the documentation officer at the building.

"They have zero documentation because they're illegal," Dumas said. "Illegal means illegal, dude."

Pintado told the paper that the stunt frightened some people who had appointments to get passports. He also said he didn't think the comment was racist but showed that Dumas was ignorant about the consulate's work. The director of El Pueblo Inc., a nonprofit advocacy group, sent an e-mail to the station complaining about the remarks, reports the Raleigh News & Observer -- and got a reply from the general manager, who said he didn't understand how the comments "could have been heard as insensitive."

Labels: Clear Channel, FCC, immigration, Lumbee Indians, media, north carolina, race and racism

American Indians and their allies from across North Carolina gathered at the state Capitol yesterday to demand the firing of a Clear Channel station disc jockey who made denigrating remarks about indigenous people. They are also calling for an investigation of Texas-based Clear Channel by the Federal Communications Commission.

While on the air April 1, Bob Dumas, host of a morning radio show on Clear Channel's WDCG "G-105" in Raleigh, teased an intern about her upcoming wedding to a member of eastern North Carolina's Lumbee tribe. Joining in were his co-hosts Mike Morse and a woman who goes by the name of Kentucky Kristin. Dumas began:

"This is the God's honest truth ... now I mean you can look at the statistics,” he said while on the air. "Indians are lazy. Do you know that before you get married?"

Continued Mike Morse and "Kentucky" Kristin on the radio show, "After you guys get married are you going to have a teepee warming party? I hear Pottery Barn is making really great stuff for teepees these days."

Dumas also asked the intern if the groom's grandfather would stand by the road and shed a single tear, apparently a reference to the famous "Crying Indian" ads for the Keep America Beautiful campaign.

In response to public outcry over the statements, G-105 suspended the three hosts for three days without pay. The hosts also read an apology on the air, and G-105 posted another to its Web site that says the station "does not condone inappropriate behavior, language or insensitive remarks."

Among those participating in yesterday's protest were Lumbee Tribal Chairman Jimmy Goins; N.C. Commission of Indian Affairs Executive Director Gregory Richardson; state Rep. Ronnie Sutton, who is a Lumbee; UNC-Chapel Hill Native American Law Students' Association President Candace Harke, also a Lumbee; and members of the Lumbee Warriors Association, a veterans group.

Richardson told the Raleigh News & Observer that Clear Channel had invited Indian leaders to discuss the issue this week, and that they had accepted.

Dumas has been in trouble in the past for controversial on-air statements. In 2003, he was suspended and the station management broadcast an apology after he encouraged listeners to call in with stories about terrorizing bicyclists and said he threw bottles at them. In 2004, he organized a heterosexual pride parade in Chapel Hill and sold T-shirts emblazoned with the phrase "Flaming Heterosexual." That same year, he and another host were suspended for saying on the air that American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino of High Point, N.C. was "ghetto" and "low class."

But Dumas has also used his position to help charities. For example, his "Bus to the Bayou" campaign in the wake of Hurricane Katrina collected enough supplies to fill 11 tractor-trailers, and he helped personally deliver them to the Gulf Coast.

(Photo of Bob Dumas from G-105's photo gallery.)

Labels: Clear Channel, FCC, Lumbee Indians, media, north carolina, race and racism

Remember the curious glitch that prevented a CBS affliliate in northern Alabama from airing the recent 60 Minutes' report -- and that report only -- on the politics behind the controversial prosecution of former Gov. Don Siegelman? Well, the Federal Communications Commission has launched an inquiry into the incident, Reuters reports:

The FCC issued a "notice of inquiry" to WHNT, a CBS affiliate in Huntsville, Alabama, in connection with an outage that cut off a segment of the February 24 broadcast of "60 Minutes," an FCC spokeswoman said.

WHNT, which has blamed the black-out on equipment failure, has 30 days to respond with an explanation of what happened in the incident.

The inquiry came at the request of Commissioner Michael Copps, one of two Democratic appointees on the five-member body. The agency's chairman, Kevin Martin, is a Republican.

WHNT is owned by an investment firm whose founder's family has close ties to the Bushes, and it's managed by Local TV, a company headed by a former Clear Channel Communications executive and major Bush contributor. After initially blaming the blackout on a CBS transmission problem, the station management has since maintained that the problem was caused at the receiving end by an equipment failure that cut off the feed. The station later re-aired the segment twice.

The FCC inquiry comes amid mounting calls from across the political spectrum for Siegelman to be freed from prison and for the case to be investigated. Last week former Former Reagan Treasury official and Wall Street Journal editor Paul Craig Roberts joined the chorus, writing in CounterPunch that Siegelman "was framed in a crooked trial ... and sent to Federal prison by the corrupt and immoral Bush Administration."

Labels: Alabama, criminal justice, don siegelman, FCC, karl rove, media, politics