Is Race Subtext of 2012 Presidential Campaign?

NBC4’s Conan Nolan spoke with Christopher Homles Smith, a clinical associate professor in the School of Communication at USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism about the controversy.

Vice President Joe Biden stirred controversy on Tuesday at a campaign speech in Virginia when he told a group -- many of whom were African American -- that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s policies would put the group “back in chains.”

“Romney wants to let the — he said in the first hundred days, he’s going to let the big banks once again write their own rules, unchain Wall Street,” Biden said.“They’re going to put you all back in chains.”

Is race the subtext for the 2012 presidential campaign?

NBC4’s Conan Nolan spoke with Christopher Homles Smith, a clinical associate professor in the School of Communication at USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism about the controversy.

It was unfortunate that the Vice President used that type of terminology,” Smith said. “It was unnecessary.”

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