Minister Demands DJ be Fired over Barrino Remark
Date: Monday, May 31, 2004
By: Associated Press

DURHAM, N.C. - A Durham minister has started an online petition drive to oust a local morning radio personality for "racially incendiary" comments insulting "American Idol" winner Fantasia Barrino.

Bob Dumas, host of WDGC's top-rated "Showgram", on Thursday used the term "ghetto" and "low class" to describe Barrino, who is black and had a child out of wedlock.

Dumas, who is white, said his use of the term "ghetto" were not race-specific.

"It can be black, it can be white, it can be Hispanic. It can be anybody," he said.

The Rev. Paul Scott, a Baptist minister and founder of the Messianic Afrikan Nation ministry in Durham, said the term was a "code word" of white supremacists to describe the actions of those in the black community. He called the term "racially incendiary" and is circulating a petition on the Internet calling for an apology and Dumas' dismissal.

…The radio station's assistant program director and music director Chase, who uses only one name, declined to repeat Dumas' remarks but acknowledged that Dumas used the words "ghetto" and "low class." He too said there was nothing racist in the remarks.

"'Ghetto' and 'low class' don't insinuate racism," he said. "It insinuates personality traits. He made a point that this had nothing to do with race."