In what is fast becoming a nightly ritual, Bill O’Reilly used his Talking Points commentary for another condescending lecture to African Americans last night. The latest excuse: the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s March on Washington. Disingenuously posturing as carrying the mantle of Dr. King, O’Reilly nonetheless pronounced the commemoration too “heavy on grievance, light on problem solving,” and too much about racial profiing, voter identification requirements and Trayvon Martin.
O’Reilly began by asking, “How would Dr. King see the current racial situation in America?” That was his cover for spending most of the rest of his commentary suggesting that modern day African Americans are a disgrace.
Would (Dr. King) be pleased that nearly 75% of black babies are born out of wedlock No, he would not be. Would he be accepting of the violent crime wave caused by young black men? He would be appalled. Would he accept the broken educational system in many poor precincts? No, he would not. Would he be happy with the rap industry and other pernicious entertainment aimed at the young? I do not believe Dr. King would be happy about that at all.
And finally, would he approve of a civil rights movement that continues to blame American society for the problems encountered by blacks rather than encouraging personal responsibility as a way to achieve individual success?
On Saturday, tens of thousands of the folks gathered in Washington to honor Dr. King’s crusade. But sadly, sadly, most of the speeches were heavy on grievance, light on problem solving. We heard a small bit of criticism directed at irresponsible behavior that leads to chaos and ruin. But not much. However, we did hear a lot about racial profiling and voter identification requirements. We heard questionable comparisons of Trayvon Martin to Emmett Till.
Putting aside the hostile arrogance of O’Reilly in passing judgment as to what should or should not have been said, the irony is that he’s the one who bastardized Dr. King’s legacy. In his historic speech, King unequivocally spoke out about voting rights, saying, “We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote.” And, before he was assassinated, King was planning another march on Washington, this time against economic injustice, something he’d surely be concerned with today.
Judging from this passage, there is also little doubt King would decry racial profiling and the shooting of Trayvon Martin, too:
There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
I can just imagine the field day of outrage O’Reilly and Fox News would have had if the "fair and balanced" network had been around when those words were spoken.
Still, O’Reilly thought he was the one true messenger of Dr. King’s spirit, even as he deliberately maligned African Americans while he was at it:
Intelligent Americans know it is the collapse of the traditional family that is wreaking havoc in the African American community. …If Dr. King were alive today, I believe he would be broken hearted about what has happened to the traditional family and not only among blacks. In our competitive society, the ill-educated of all colors are likely to fail. But good education is a partnership between parents and teachers. If parents are derelict and do not require their children to read and study at home, teachers cannot wave a magic wand. If a child has no guidance in the house, he or she is likely to fail at school. Did we hear that Saturday in Washington? Did we?
…Dr. Martin Luther King wanted a fair, stable system for African Americans. He did not want a culture of debasement, awful behavior from so-called entertainers and a collapsing family landscape. The civil rights industry, teachers unions, far left media and apathetic Americans are all working together to block any kind of meaningful problem solving or cultural reform in this country. And until Americans come to grips with that, nothing will get better. In the end, it is indeed about the content of character. When will the civil rights industry get back to that?
Yeah, Bill. Nothing like throwing around six minutes of animosity toward African Americans to show how well you understand Martin Luther King's message.
Junior you must have thought for months, “How do I make this all about me”?
" How can I use this to boost my ratings"?
“How do I get more people to dislike me”?
Congrats Junior you turned the Triple Play.
Just wanted to remind you of your own words Bill. I also heard you say that people shouldn’t listen to the haters and guttersnipes, so I’ll not comment on your deplorable, uninformed screed about what your mindreading skills tell you about what MLK was thinking.
Dumbass.
http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/ronald-reagan-martin-luther-king-had-it
Oh, wait- That little fact goes against Fox News on multiple levels. My bad, Bill- Keep doing what you’re doing. As long as you don’t wear your hood on the air.
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So Bill believes American society is not to blame at all? Does he not know American history? Doesn’t American society have at least SOME responsibility to bear? If not then Bill must simply be saying that the color of your skin alone determines whether or not you are a good or bad person. Isn’t this attitude of superiority the very same attitude that has oppressed people of color throughout our nation’s entire history? Institutional racism has brought us to this point…not because some people have a certain skin color. IMHO, it seems that Bill’s point of view does nothing but support the idea that institutional racism is needed in our country to protect white people from the naturally-more-dangerous people with dark skin. Is Bill O’Reilly the biggest racist on television? Possibly…