CBS Guest: Tearing Down NFL Stadium Is Racist
The NFL’s San Francisco 49ers moved out of famed Candlestick Park in 2014 after more than 40 years, leaving the stadium with no permanent tenant. As a result, the city of San Francisco announced that the stadium will be demolished but not without criticism from many in the community regarding the environmental impact of destroying a structure built with asbestos and lead paint.
On Thursday, CBS This Morning highlighted the ongoing battle surrounding the stadium’s future and featured one San Francisco resident insisting that it would be racist to demolish Candlestick Park. Speaking to CBS reporter John Blackstone, Marlee-I Hand argued that “it's black matters, black lives matter situation. I think that environmental justice is something that they don't consider in poor black neighborhoods.”
CBS This Morning co-host Norah O’Donnell introduced the segment by highlighting how “there's a fight over plans to implode another legendary stadium, Candlestick Park in San Francisco. John Blackstone shows us why people living nearby fear what it could mean for their health.”
Blackstone began the report by going into great detail describing the potential environmental concerns associated with demolishing the NFL stadium:
But now it's nothing more than an empty shell waiting to be demolished. The stadium was built with cancer-causing compounds like asbestos and lead paint which must be removed before a blast brings it down. Other stadiums like Seattle’s Kingdome have been safely imploded in the past in more commercial districts but Candlestick's neighbors are afraid the area’s swirling unpredictable winds could disperse a cloud of toxic dust.
The CBS reporter then featured soundbites from representatives of Lennar Corporation, the company tasked with redeveloping the land currently occupied by Candlestick Park, before playing up how “many living nearby, most of whom are minorities, feel their fears are falling on deaf ears.”
While there are valid environmental concerns associated with Candlestick’s scheduled demolition, for some reason the CBS reporter promoted a random San Francisco resident attacking the project as racially motivated and evidence of how “environmental justice is something that they don't consider in poor black neighborhoods.”
Blackstone never provided any direct rebuttal for the charges of racism and instead gave cover for his guest by pointing out the company’s questionable environmental record:
Candlestick’s neighbors they have good reason for concern. In 2008, the same developer was fined more than half a million dollars following a construction project in a Bay Area naval shipyard when asbestos filled dust settled into the nearby neighborhood.
The segment concluded with one final clip of a representative of Lennar Corporation before Blackstone noted that “Lennar insists all hazardous materials will be removed from the park before they implode the structure. The city of San Francisco must make the final decision on whether Candlestick will be torched or snuffed out some other way.”
See relevant transcript below.
CBS This Morning
January 8, 2015
NORAH O’DONNELL: The former home of the Dallas Cowboys was demolished nearly five years ago in a controlled explosion. Well now there's a fight over plans to implode another legendary stadium, Candlestick Park in San Francisco. John Blackstone shows us why people living nearby fear what it could mean for their health.
PAUL MCCARTNEY: Welcome to Candlestick Park.
JOHN BLACKSTONE: The stadium fans affectionately called “the stick” opened in 1960. It was the scene of both great games and great shows.
MCCARTNEY: Close your eyes and I'll kiss you.
BLACKSTONE: But now it's nothing more than an empty shell waiting to be demolished. The stadium was built with cancer-causing compounds like asbestos and lead paint which must be removed before a blast brings it down. Other stadiums like Seattle’s Kingdome have been safely imploded in the past in more commercial districts but Candlestick's neighbors are afraid the area’s swirling unpredictable winds could disperse a cloud of toxic dust. Shirley Moore lives right next door.
SHIRLEY MOORE: The particulates in the dust will seep into the cracks and crevices of people's homes. They have brought a health threat to our homes.
BLACKSTONE: These renderings show Lennar Corporation’s plans to build a massive mixed use development on the site. It will bring some 12,000 housing units, a high end shopping mall and 10,000 permanent jobs to the area. Lennar is trying to get a permit to implode the stadium. At a community meeting Monday night a representative for Lennar downplayed concerns over dangerous dust.
B.H. BRONSON JOHNSON: Conventional demolition or the implosion option do not lead to any risks to health.
BLACKSTONE: But many living nearby, most of whom are minorities, feel their fears are falling on deaf ears.
MARLEE-I HAND: I think it's black matters, black lives matter situation. I think that environmental justice is something that they don't consider in poor black neighborhoods.
BLACKSTONE: Candlestick’s neighbors they have good reason for concern. In 2008, the same developer was fined more than half a million dollars following a construction project in a Bay Area naval shipyard when asbestos filled dust settled into the nearby neighborhood. Still the president Lennar’s Bay Area urban division says public safety in the Candlestick tear down is his top priority.
KOFI BONNER: I've heard the concerns and we believe it really is important to ensure that we are indeed dealing with it in not only in the most efficient manner but in the safest manner for the community.
BLACKSTONE: Lennar insists all hazardous materials will be removed from the park before they implode the structure. The city of San Francisco must make the final decision on whether Candlestick will be torched or snuffed out some other way. For CBS This Morning, John Blackstone, San Francisco.
GAYLE KING: To be continued. And John Blackstone will bring us up to date.
O’DONNELL: No doubt.
KING: That's what we like about him.
— Jeffrey Meyer is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Jeffrey Meyer on Twitter.
