Subject: Star Jones' response to Bill O'Reilly's comment about Michelle Obama
JUST IN CASE YOU MISSED THIS Star Jones Reynolds responds to Bill O'Reilly/Fox
News about Michelle Obama!
Worth reading...
Below is Star Jones' informed and provocative response to Bill O'Reilly's
comment about 'having a lynching party for MichelleObama if he finds out that
she truly has no pride in her country.
' Bill O'Reilly said: ......'I don't want to go on a lynching party against
Michelle Obama unless there's evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the
w oman really feels. If that'show she really feels - that is a bad country or a
flawed nation, whatever - then that's legit. We'll track it down.'
Star said: .......'I'm sick to death of people like Fox News , host, Bill
O'Reilly, and his ilk, thinking that he can use a racial slur against a black
woman who could be the next First Lady of the United States , give a half-assed
apology and not be taken to task and called on his crap. What the hell? If
it's 'le git,' you're going to 'track it down?'And then what do you plan to do?
How dare this white man with a microphone and the trust of the public think that
in 2008, he can still put the words 'lynch and party' together in the same
sentence with reference to a black woman; in this case,Michelle Obama? I don't
care how you 'spin it' in the 'no spin zone,' that statement in and of itself is
racist,unacceptable and inappropriate on every level.
O'Reilly claims his comments were take n out of context. Please don't insult my
intelligence while you're insulting me. I've read the comments and heard them
delivered in O'Reilly's own voice; and there is no right context that exists.
So, his insincere apology and 'out-of-context' excuse is not going to cut it
with me.
And just so we're clear, this has nothing to do with the 2008 presidential
election, me being a Democrat, him claiming to be Independent while talking
Republican, the liberal media or a con s ervative point of view. To the
contrary, this is about crossing a line in the sand that needs to be drawn based
on history, dignity, taste and truth.
Bill, I'm not sure of where you come from, but let me tell you what the phrase
'lynching party' conjures up to me, a black woman born in North Carolina ..
Those words depict the image of a group of white men who are angry with the
state of their own lives getting together,drinking more than they need to dr ink,
lamenting how some black person has moved forward (usually ahead of them in
stature or dignity), and had the audacity to think that they are equal. These
same men for years, instead of looking at what changes they should and could
make in their own lives that might remove that bitterness born of perceived
privilege, these white men take all of that resentment and anger and decide to
get together and drag the closest black person near them to their death by
hanging them from a tree - usually after viol en t beating, torturing and
violating their human dignity. Check your history books, because you don't need
a masters or a law degree from Harvard to know that is what constitutes a
'lynching party.'
Imagine,Michelle and Barack Obama having the audacity to think that they have
the right to the American dream, hopes, and ideals. O'Reilly must think to
himself: 'How dare they have the arrogance to think they can stand in front of
this nation, challenge the status quo and express the frustration of millions?
When this happens, the first thing that comes to mind for O'Reilly and people
like him is: 'it's time for a party.' Not so fast...don't order the rope just
yet.
Would O'Reilly ever in a million years use this phrase with reference to
Elizabeth Edwards, Cindy McCain or Judi Nathan? I mean, in all of the
statements and criticisms that were made about Judi Nathan, the one-time
mistress turned missus, of former presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, I
never heard any talk of forming a lynch party because of something she said or
did.
So why is it that when you're referring to someone who' s African-American you
must dig to a historical place of pain, agony and death to symbolize your
feelings? Lynching is not a joke to off-handedly throw around and it is not a
metaphor that has a place in political commentary; provocative or otherwise. I
admit that I come from a place of personal outrage here having buried my 90
year-old grandfather last year. This proud, amazing African-American man raised
his family and lived through the time when he had to use separate water
fountains, ride in the back of a bus, take his wife on a date to the'colored
section' of a movie theater, and avert his eyes when a white woman walked down
the street for fear of what a white man and his cronies might do if they felt
the urge to 'party'; don't tell me that the phrase you chose, Mr. O'Reilly, was
taken out of context.To add insult to injury, O'Reilly tried to 'clarify' his
statements, by using the excuse that his comments were reminiscent of Supreme
Court Justice Clarence Thomas' use of the term 'high-tech lynching' during his
confirmation hearing. I reject that analogy. You see Justice Thomas did mean
to bring up the image of lynching in its racist context. He was saying that
politics and the media were using a new technology to do to him what had been
done to black men for many years -- hang him.
Regardless of if you agreed with Justice Thomas' premise or not, if in fact
---Bill O'Reilly was referencing it the context becomes even clearer.
What annoys me more than anything is that I get the feeling that one of the
reasons Bill O'Reilly made this statement, thinking he could get away with it in
the first place, and then followed it up with a lame apology in a half-hearted
attempt to smooth any ruffled feathers, is because he doesn't think that black
women will come out and go after him when he goes after us. Well, he's dead
wrong. Be clear Bill O'Reilly: there will be no lynch party for that black
woman.
And this black woman assures you that if you come for her, you come for all of
us.'
-- Star Jones Reynolds
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