Michael Savage calls for deportation of journalist

Posted by Paul Schmelzer at 7:25 AM on March 15, 2007.

A few days ago, after fellow Minnesota Monitor reporter Abdi Aynte broke the story of the lawsuit being filed by the so-called "flying imams" who were kicked off a USAirways flight in Minneapolis last November, we got a curious response to our press email on the topic. Michael Savage, the third-rated talkshow host, sent a personal email to our managing editor. It said, simply:

"You and they should be deported for taking advantage of this great nation."

Huh? Deported for being a journalist? A confirmation from Savage's producer and series of blog posts and releases followed, I discussed it on Air America Minnesota last night, and Abdi wrote a nice rebuttal to Savage, in which he pointed out that he's a legal resident, a refugee from Somalia, who came to the U.S. in 2000, learned English and found a job:

Since coming to this country barely six years ago, I have done all the right things. I secured a job to support myself and my family back home, all the while attending school to study what I've always dreamed of doing: telling people's stories.

Savage -- as you recall -- is the radio host who advocated "kill[ing] 100 million Muslims," said Muslims are "nonhumans," and suggested an "outright ban on Muslim immigration."

Proof enough this probably isn't the last we'll hear from Michael Savage.

Tagged as: journalism, racism, civil rights, muslims, right wing radio

Paul is a writer, activist, and art dabbler. Editor of Walker magazine, his work has appeared in Adbusters, AlterNet, Cabinet, Ode, Utne, Raw Vision, and others. His blog is Eyeteeth.