Guest hosting last night’s O’Reilly Factor, Juan Williams suggested that African Americans had deliberately and wrongly race-baited in the Trayvon Martin case when they alleged Martin had been racially profiled by neighborhood watch zealot, George Zimmerman. Williams also adopted the rhetoric of his Fox News colleague Geraldo Rivera by suggesting that Martin’s hoodie was at least partly to blame in fostering Zimmerman's suspicions.
In his introduction, Williams said condemningly, “Many immediately jumped to conclusions and accused Zimmerman of being a racist!” He then played a clip that any regular Fox News regular has seen a zillion times: Congressional Black Caucus members saying that Martin was shot and killed because he was black.
Williams continued, “But a new FBI report paints a different picture. The report, which was based on interviews with nearly three dozen people says there was no evidence Zimmerman was motivated by race when he shot Trayvon Martin.”
Williams is no dummy and has previously challenged Fox News’ race-baiting in the Martin case. So surely he knows that just because there’s no “evidence Zimmerman was motivated by race” when he shot Martin doesn’t mean that race played no role in the tragic events or that Martin’s race had no role in arousing Zimmerman’s initial suspicions.
In fact, Williams alluded to that when he asked one his guests, “What if it’s the case that he thought this young man – again, being black, wearing a hoodie – was suspicious?”
Apparently, Williams has bought into Rivera's argument that Martin was dressed like a thug because he wore a hoodie.
Face tattoos may be in, big scars have their fans but what can a thug that wants to be stylish do? Black ski masks might work, but they are hot and itchy.
It’s strange to ask if Zimmerman is racist. Our whole society is racist. And when you construct the law so that anyone can buy a gun, and has permission to shoot anyone who makes them nervous, we will see pre-emptive violence passing as self-defense.
