Conservative political commentator Bill O’Reilly chose to walk a fine line again with his views as he discussed the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin and the race problem in America on Monday, July 22.
After George Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder, many protests for justice have taken place across the country, with the focal point being the injustice for Martin because of his race. If Zimmerman and Martin had been the same race, perhaps the trial would have ended differently.
In response to President Barack Obama’s statement on Friday regarding the Zimmerman trial, and his personal experience with being perceived as a threat in some quarters, O’Reilly had much to add to the conversation.
“Many black Americans harbor at least some resentment for past injury,” O’Reilly said.” But what President Obama surely knows is that you cannot reach a fair verdict or implement effective public policy by dwelling on the sins of the past.”
O’Reilly said in his broadcast that talking about the race problem in America was a problem in itself.
“When you hear a pundit politician say we should have a ‘conversation’ about race, that means you’re in for a sea of bloviating,” O’Reilly said. “Which will likely lead absolutely nowhere.”
O’Reilly said the leadership in the United States, including Obama, have no idea how to handle the problems that arise in the black community.
Although he said Martin was killed because of his criminal appearance, not race, O’Reilly followed with statistics that suggested young black males have a propensity for criminal behavior — citing that young black men commit homicide at a rate 10 times higher than white and Hispanic men alone.
“The reason there is so much violence and chaos in the black precincts is the disintegration of the African American family,” O’Reilly said. “Right now about 73 per cent of all black babies are born out of wedlock. That drives poverty.”
These personal decisions, O’Reilly said, have led to the issues the black community is facing.
“Hey listen you green-heads, if a kid can’t speak proper English, uses the f-word in every sentence, is disgraceful as disrespectful, is disrespectful, in his or her manner, that child will never, never be able to compete in the marketplace in America, never,” he said. “And it has nothing to do with slavery. It has everything to do with you Hollywood people and you derailing parents. You are the ones hurting these vulnerable children.”
