During Michelle Obama’s remarkable speech at the Democratic National Convention, the First Lady made it a point to remind Americans of the horrid racial conditions that occurred in the is country.
“The story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation, but who kept on striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done so that today I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves,” Obama said.
Bill O’Reilly decided to share his thoughts on the speech and slavery. “Slaves that worked there were well-fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government, which stopped hiring slave labor in 1802. However, the feds did not forbid subcontractors from using slave labor,” O’Reilly said.
The statement by O’Reilly reveals how White privilege creates a lack of empathy for those who have suffered. By suggesting that slaves were “well-fed and had decent lodging,” O’Reilly is ignoring the fact that humans were abused physically, mentally and forced to work for free. The affects of slavery continues to affect the psyche of Black people today and it was the beginning of Blacks being viewed and treated like second class citizens. American slavery will always be the country’s most wicked crime and it has yet to co e to terms with such atrocities.
But there are a multitude of people who think with that same ridiculousness that is presented by O’Reilly. They fail to sympathize with the oppressed because they don’t have a desire to care for anyone of the opposite race.
O’Reilly and Fox News continue to survive by holding on to racist views and pandering to individuals who have the desires to further oppress Black people. It’s a shame that, in 2016, such a platform is still allowed to exist.
