Last year, after visiting the famous Harlem restaurant “Sylvia’s“, Bill O’Reilly gave the place a rave review on his now-defunct radio show. Black leaders cried foul and called him a racist because he pointed out that the food was good and everyone were polite and well-behaved.
Many blacks claimed that what O’Reilly said insinuated that blacks are not usually civilized. The firestorm lasted for a few weeks, and finally, after O’Reilly met with Jesse Jackson (or was it Al Sharpton? I forget.), it all blew over. I, too have eaten at Sylvia’s, and I echo the sentiments of Mr. O’Reilly. There is nothing bad I can say about the restaurant.
In his attempt at complimenting Sylvia’s, he wound up the target of the victim brigades, who carry their race cards and throw them like shurikens at anyone within their reach. It’s as Chris Rock once famously said:
“Who’s more racist – black people or white people?
Black people. Why? ‘Cuz we hate niggas too.”
Bill wasn’t meaning to insult African-Americans. I doubt he has a racist bone in his (rather tall) body. He was telling his audience that it was a nice place to take their families, as opposed to say, a run-down, dirty slum hole.
When African-Americans talk about the divide in black society, they get a pass because it’s their story. When a white person such as Bill O’Reilly attempts to say something positive, by applauding the staff and patrons at Sylvia’s, he’s crucified for doing so.
Now, fast forward to the present and you have the death, and subsequent media coverage of Michael Jackson. Ever since last night’s “O’Reilly Factor” was picked apart by the liberal media, Bill O’Reilly has been targeted as a racist once again. Criticizing O’Reilly is currently one of the most popular “trends” on Twitter right now. Why? All because O’Reilly said on his television program that Jackson should not be considered a black hero due to the things that he had done in his personal life. He married twice, and both times chose Caucasian women rather than African-Americans. He paid a white man and a white woman to have children for him, rather than choosing to father his own children, or adopting black children. He had several rhinoplasties on his African-looking nose because he had hated it his entire life, and eventually, his nose even fell off. Most noticably of all, he bleached his skin white and blamed it on a rare skin condition called vitiligo that effects about 1% of human beings.
My Caucasian sister was diagnosed with vitiligo when she was about five years old. She has white patches of skin across her entire body, but she puts on makeup and is able to conceal most of it. In the Summer, when she’s out in the sun, she tans very quickly and is often mistaken for a Mexican or Latina, and random people on the street attempt to speak Spanish to her. When she went to a specialist, she was given the option to have all pigmentation removed from her body like Michael Jackson did. It would leave her looking like an albino, and she would have to cover her skin whenever she went outside or else she would get serious burns. She chose not to do it, while Mr. Jackson instead decided to go through with the procedure, leaving only the skin underneath his fingernails and toenails as evidence of his African-American origins. She chose to continue to fight the disease rather than letting it defeat her, while he gave up and became, for all intents and purposes, a white man.
Michael Jackson was truly a great musician. There are about 10-15 songs that he’s written or performed that are among my all-time favorites. His personal life, whether you believe he was a pedophile or not, was chaotic and arguably disturbing… and his place as a hero to blacks, or to anyone should be non-existent.
Yes, he was the first black artist to make it on MTV. Yes, “Thriller” is the highest-selling album of all-time… but that was over 25 years ago… before the sex scandals, before adopting a chimpanzee, before marrying Elvis’ daughter, before his hair caught fire, before creating fake stories about himself for the tabloids, before calling the label head of Sony a racist, before his association with the Nation of Islam, etc. etc.
In 1983, he was just a young black man on top of the music world. In 2009, he was a tragic figure and an example of the risks and dangers one has when they become a celebrity.
Whether you believe he molested any children or you don’t, you should celebrate the music, and not the man. Al Sharpton said at Jackson’s memorial the other day that Jackson didn’t do anything wrong, and that it was all the media’s fault.
Bill O’Reilly didn’t say anything that wasn’t true. He has been careful not to call Jackson a pedophile or a rapist. He was only guilty of telling the truth about a black man while having white skin. If blacks are still willing to accept Michael Jackson, then why is there no tolerance for Bill O’Reilly?
