Last week, I received a phone call from the producer for "The Jim Reith Show" here in Syracuse. I've been a frequent guest on Jim's show in the past. I appear on the show because I like Jim, even though I am not sure of his audience. Jim works on a conservative network, and his time slot is right between Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.
I don't like Rush Limbaugh. I think he is, for the most part, a big mouth hypocrite. You have to get a kick out of the irony that Limbaugh once recommended that drug addicts go to prison and then found himself addicted to drugs. I also love the fact that Rush Limbaugh is a leader of the Republican party, since I really feel that this helps President Obama quite a bit. It's always good to have an out of touch leader with minimal intelligence and extreme ideology serving to further alienate the competing political party.
My encounters with Sean Hannity and Bill O'reilly, the other two pieces of the "Axis of Ignorance" have been explosive. O'reilly has consistently called for me to be fired by Syracuse University (some have suggested that it actually worked, black academic freedom doesn't quite pay the bills for many predominantly white universities). I told Hannity that he is helping to destroy America. I then proceeded to tell his staff that I am not interested in appearing on his show ever again.
So, when I got Jim's request to guest-host his radio show during his vacation week, I was taken aback. "Does your audience know who I am?" I asked the producer nicely. He said, "Yes Dr. Watkins. They actually like you."
"Wow," I thought to myself. "If this is possible,then maybe it's also possible that I might really end up dating Beyonce."
I reflected on my interactions with Jim on his show, and they've all been quite pleasant. What I found is that Jim Reith is not the kind of conservative who bashes you over the head for having a different point of view. He is the kind of person who does what we should all do: Listen to the other perspective and let others have a voice. In fact, that is one thing we both have in common, which is why we get along so well on the air.
I went into the show with some degree of trepidation, wondering if I would live to see the end of the show. I started the show by extending an olive branch to the audience. While informing them that I do not, for one second, back away from anything that I've ever said, my goal was to be both student and professor. I would listen and learn from them while sharing and teaching. I truly believe that is what America is supposed to be all about. Additionally, I made sure they were clear that I do not like Bill Oreilly, Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh. I explained that I spend my life fighting for black people. I even mentioned that I am not afraid to hold my employer, Syracuse University, accountable for it's participation in the NCAA's effort to exploit Black athletes and their families. I also stand up for black scholars and our rights to true academic freedom without the constraints of academic imperialism by the descendants of our historical oppressors.
Rather than having listeners show up on my doorstep with pitchforks and sharp weapons, I actually received tons of supportive calls. Without bragging, I must confess that I regularly heard the words, "This is the best show I've ever heard," which certainly served to temporarily inflate my ego. In all seriousness, it was my honor and a great experience to have the chance to interact with other Americans who have a different point of view. America should be a nation filled with productive dialogue, and it's my greatest hope that we can learn from one another and obtain a mutually respectful way of discussing race in America. Life is too short not to listen.
If you wish to listen to the audio from the first appearance, please click here.
To hear the audio from the second appearance, please click here.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a finance professor at Syracuse Unversity and author of the forthcoming book, 'Black American Money,' set to be released on July 15, 2009. To have Dr Boyce's commentary delivered directly to your e-mail, please click here.
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By: warren on 7/07/2009 8:14PM
sean hannity and bill o'reilly are nothing but shock jocks,they make racial comments to show their audience that you can still call black people niggers,you just say it in a different manner.
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By: Kenyatta Graham on 7/09/2009 1:54PM
Dr. Watkins seems to be something of a hypocrite himself. He extols his open mindedness as if he is willing to accept the view point of others but yet he will not accept the view point of certain conservative commentators. I am one of the few persons of color that listens to Bill O'Reilly,Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh on a regular basis and I don't see nor hear a racial bias in their commentary. In fact tnese three go out of their way to not promote racist ideology. Obviously my viewpoint is a reflection of my conservative bent. I am a Republican and happy about it. My black ancestors were responsible for being invovled in the formation of the Republican Party. In fact the more I read the history of the Republican Party the more I realize that that party really belongs to all black people! How many of you so called black folks know that Dr. Martin L.King was a Republican? How many of you woefully ignorant black folks know that the infamous Ku Klux Klan was started by the Democratic Party? But many of you don't miss an opportunity to kneel at the feet of the Democratic Party,a party that has never cared for you! Unfortunately most of you don't want to know the truth you would rather wallow in your self imposed ignorance and blame "whitey",for everything instead of accepting responsibility for your own condition. The very fact of President Obama's election dispels the ludicrous allegation that America has persistantly been a primarily racist society.As a matter of fact blacks became free in this country on the day that Dr. king died! His sacrificial death was the catalyst that brought freedom to all those who were paying attention rather than immersing themselves into anger,hatred and self pity. Instead of whining about the conservative ideology we should be thanking conservative thought, for who exactly do we think ended slavery in America? It darn sure wasn't ended by the Democrats! Heck no! Slavery was ended by whites who possessed a conservative thought process! Wake up black people! When the Voting Rights Act and The Civil Rights Act and other beneficial pieces of legislation were passed by congress we can easily see that the Republican Party voted YES while the Dem's did not support the legislation. Check the voting records for yourself and stop listening to knuckle heads like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson and the N.A.A.C.P., and Maxine Waters. All of whom who have an agenda that does not benefit you! Wake up black America and become independent voters,if nothing else,and make both partys fight for your vote. Just because certain truths about our lives or conditions come from the lips of a caucasion it does not necessarily follow that that white person is a racist. Just because a white person is critical of black people that does not automatically mean that that white person is racist. If that is the case then Dr.Watkins has to accept that he is a card carrying racist himself and as such he should keep his hypocritical comments to himself!
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By: Mac Willliams on 7/15/2009 2:46PM
What are you talking (typing) about? Do a little more research.
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By: Terry Diixon on 7/15/2009 4:46PM
You have a right to your opinion regardless how foolish it sounds. However, there is some truth to what you are saying but you've taken the truth of racial matters and turn them to justify the long time ignorance of your party. Dr. King was a Republican because there was nothing else avaliable to blacks. He took that route because back then it was a party attending to correct some of America's wrong.
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By: nellis on 7/15/2009 9:50PM
Kenyetta,
You conveniently forgot the repressive policies of the Reagan, Bush administration that has lead the the loss of earning power of African Americans. Most importantly, the southern strategy of the Republican Party that used out and out racism to remain in power (i.e Reagan's welfare queen), while they lorded over the undoing of regulations that leashed the financial collapse we are now dealing with. How can you laud the Republican Party. Jesse and Sharpton are spokespersons, not legislators. You can ignore them if you choose, but not laws.
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