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But the more important issue of judicial injustice in the south might be overshadowed by some comments Bill O'Reilly made last week in a radio discussion on race and racism.
The controversy comes from O'Reilly's retelling his experience with Sharpton at a famous African American restaurant in Harlem, Sylvia's. O'Reilly said he was surprised to see black folks acting civilized!
"It was like going into an Italian restaurant in an all-white suburb in the sense of people were sitting there, and they were ordering and having fun," he said. "And there wasn't any kind of craziness at all."
"That's right," O'Reilly said. "There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, `M.F.-er, I want more iced tea.'"
O'Reilly says CNN and Mediamatters.org, which first published a transcript, twisted his words.
You can read the transcript and decide whether or not his comments were racist or just dumb. While it did not amount to a Don Imus moment, there is no question, however, that his words point to the TWISTED racist stereotypes that O'Reilly shares with some other white Americans.
As one CNN reporter put it: "They call this a subtle type of racism. It's not the 'hit you over the head with a hammer' type; it's the 'velvet glove' type."
Sharpton told the AP he was confused that anyone would be "surprised" at how blacks acted at Sylvia's. He plans to ask O'Reilly to explain what he meant Wednesday night.
Comments: (37)
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By: Lori on 9/28/2007 2:49AM
Honestly, I have to a gree with him. Too many of our own establishments are sub-par and totally intolerable to me. And las time i heard, Sylvia's was owned by Koreans, not Blacks! LOL!
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By: Lisa on 9/28/2007 5:46AM
Can we retrace our steps through time? The European that had set foot on African soil thought that Africans were a couple of steps above the monkey, or ape in the chain of evolution. The European believed that Africans were SAVAGES!!!! Are you reading this blogg?!!! Stop being so unaware of the climate that we live in. We have our understanding of each other as black people ---but the majority of white people in the world and some other races I will not mention may still have some of that "SAVAGE" imagery in their heads. Some of our white counterparts may only see black people on the job or as servants in their homes. Most white America does not live next door to a black family....unless their neighbor is black and lives in a million dollar estate property with a electronic fence and intercom....(((of course if you can afford that as a black...you are not really of the SAVAGE blacks....but your potenical is still there))) You think I am negative??? Okay...my dear bloggers out there....ask yourself...who was you next door neighbor when you grew up? Why are we not living next door to one another when we buy houses...or even get apartments? Tell the truth....ask your white co-workers why they did not buy a house in Laurelton, Cambria Hts., Queens Village, and St. Albans? Why did they move upstate, or LongIsland where the cost of living is so high?!!! Lets be realy racism is alive and well. And the reason OReilly was shocked about the restaurant is the same reason he oblivously has never lived next door to a black person. IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT HE MEANT TO SAY ON THAT TRANSCRIPT....WHERE YOU LIVE SPEAKS VOLUMES!!!!!!!
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By: Curtis Walton on 9/28/2007 6:51AM
Thank you Natalie for your intelligent response to the ill-informed and biased post of Jason. He is a very sick person who will not ever know the truth
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By: Bishop James R Winfree Sr, on 9/28/2007 7:26AM
QUESTION WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THE LIFE GOD GAVE YOU?
We all know about questions; we ask them because we lack information, we seek counsel, we want to hear the sort of answers that will reassure us, comfort us, strengthen our security, and for a host of other reasons.
We ask questions because answers don't come readily in life and all too often it seems the universe gives them up grudgingly.
There are some who have grown so tired of asking questions, for want of significant and fulfilling answers, that they boldly declare that "there are no answers!"
Has it ever occurred to you, that nothing has ever occurred to God? God is THE one and only, original "KNOW IT ALL" and to such a Person, questions are superfluous.
Yet God has asked questions in the BIBLE.
He asked Adam, "Where art thou?"
He asked the two angels who accompanied Him on the way to Sodom and Gomorra mm or ha: "Shall I hide from my friend, Abraham that thing which I do?"
He asked Moses at the burning bush, "What is it that you have in your hand?"
Yet God needn't have asked such questions of these men, and the many questions He has asked others in the Word, in order to obtain answers: He asked these questions for the purpose of drawing attention to something, to lead a person towards a certain point that God wanted them to consider.
Yet the questions that we ask, particularly of people whom we respect spiritually, such as our pastors, elders, and those who have known the LORD for many more years than we have, we ask because we are mystified concerning God and His ways. Indeed, doesn't the WORD itself say that His ways "are past finding out"? For as the stars are above the earth, so are His thoughts above our own.
He is infinite, and we are finite. He exists outside of space and time while we dwell within these restraints and have done so ever since our conception. And while we are in this world, we see things spiritual as in a glass darkly, but once we "shuck off this mortal coil" as Hamlet said, we step out of the finiteness of time and space, and we shall see our LORD face to face; on that Day we shall know (the LORD) even as we are known (by Him). See 1 Cor 13:
Once we are with Him, in the fullness of the glory of God's kingdom, all questions will vanish away like smoke in a gale force wind, they shall be consumed like paper in an inferno, they shall melt like snow on a furnace.
Basking in the very presence of God we will no longer have the itch, or sometimes the torture, of unanswered questions.
And yet while on this earth, during this life, questions arise, and it is right that they do so! For it is not only important to ask questions, but also to know the reason why we ask them; in order to obtain the right answers we must ask the right questions.
I'm so well reminded of my own personal encounter with the LORD, my spiritual experience of being born again in Christ. Sometime in the near future I will transcribe my testimony on this BLOG for any to read who care to do so.
It was during this time in my 'B.C.' days, that I asked many questions that none had answers (to my satisfaction) to. Why am I here? What is my purpose in life? What significance will there be to my life? What will happen to me after I die? What is the plan that God has for me? How can I be assured that when I face Him, I will be granted access to heaven, and His Divine approval? And the big whammy of a question: How can I become righteous in the eyes of God??
Do you have someone that you know who is not yet saved? Do they shun and even ridicule the answers that you seek to provide for them? It behooves the saint to pray, and ask the LORD to 'plague' the minds of the lost with QUESTIONS. For its in these that the Holy Spirit can begin to do His work.
Questions have answers, and its in answers that we discover truth, and those of us who know the LORD Jesus Christ, know in fact that He is the Living Embodiment of Truth, He is Truth made flesh.
Ultimately any question worth asking regarding this life will inevitably find its answer in the Person of Jesus Christ, the LORD of all.
For more answers go to http://www.freewebs.com/winfreeministries
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By: Jill on 9/29/2007 9:02PM
i am offended that both Reverand Sharpton and Jackson appeared on his show. i don't understand the difference in O'Reilly's comments and Imus. Them appearing on the shows just helped to promote him. i much prefer Olbermann at the same time who gives us incredible insight into politics.
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By: Kim on 10/04/2007 12:32AM
Not offended one bit! I mean white people expect to go into black owned places and find us being n******. But when they find that we're actually very well mannered, it's surprising. Maybe he went in to see how black people are, maybe he wanted to witness something that would prove what ever point he had in mind. But he didn't find that, so it's cool.
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By: Liv on 10/07/2007 8:55PM
We shouldn't be surprise of "white ignorance". Especially those who have never had close contact in the form of lifetime friendship with people of color and by that I mean friendship where a color person is welcomed to the white person's home. Isn't it a shame that a middle age person just discovered that people of color know how to conduct themselves in a restuarant. By the way how many Black Own Restaurants has Mr. Reilly frequented?
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