Words matter, CNN analyst says

CNN analyst Angela Rye speaks in Orangeburg on April 5. (Photo special to The Panther)

CNN analyst Angela Rye’s message to Claflin freshmen focused on words and action.

Rye is an advocate for making a difference and impacting the world.

"This has to be a call to action for all of us,” she said during an April 5 appearance during CALA-Bash. “While I'm on the battlefield, I can't do it alone."

She said people should come together if they share views on the same things not being right. 

"We are in this fight together and the struggle is real," Rye said.  

She said words affect people -- negatively or positively. "I want to talk briefly about the power of the word.”

She cited an adage as the worst lie: “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never break me." 

People are responsible for their words and their word choices, she said.

That includes President Donald Trump, she said.

"We elected a president who is so irresponsible with his words," Rye said. 

Trump wrongly went on and on about former President Barack Obama, disrespecting the nation’s leader. "He questioned whether or not the president was a U.S. citizen."

"I think it is important to consider our history, what is the present and what is before us,” Rye said. 

Trump is unfit to be president, she said.

He has a treacherous history with discrimination, racial bias and the infamous remark about grabbing women's private parts.

"This is not new behavior from ‘Y'all's president.’ This is who he's always been." 

She continued, listing Trump wrongs from before the election:

• He encouraged hackers looking into emails. 
• He labeled everything he did not like as fake news.
• He encouraged the man who attacked a black man for no reason at one of his rallies by stating he would pay his legal fees.

"Again, words matter,” Rye said.  

Then she directed her attention to former television host Bill O’Reilly of Fox.  

"Bill O’Reilly is an angry, hateful man,” Rye said. 

Like Trump, O’Reilly makes sexual and racial comments.

She said advertisers would pull out of the O’Reilly show. When that happens, it will go away -- which has happened in the weeks since her visit to Orangeburg.

Principal and CEO of Impact Strategies, Rye is featured as a politico, lawyer and advocate by several publications and outlets such as Marie Claire, Ebony and the Washington Post. She is a prominent political strategist who offers regular on-air commentary for several media outlets including BET, CNN, MSNBC and TV One.