O'Reilly Visits Harlem: "Blacks Well Dressed" and "Not Screaming"

Fox News polemicist-in-chief Bill O'Reilly shares an interesting anecdote on his nationally syndicated radio show: On a recent trip to Harlem, he was delighted to discover "the blacks are well-dressed."

The trip uptown was taken with the Rev. Al Sharpton and the duo went to the legendary Sylvia's restaurant (Audio at Media Matters). The right-wing commentator "couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks, primarily black patronship." O'Reilly added: "There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, 'M-Fer, I want more iced tea.' "

O'Reilly also attended an Anita Baker concert at Radio City Music Hall and was also impressed with the lack of profanity, noting "the blacks were well-dressed. ... The band was excellent, but they were dressed in tuxedos, and this is what white America doesn't know, particularly people who don't have a lot of interaction with black Americans. They think that the culture is dominated by Twista, Ludacris, and Snoop Dogg."

O'Reilly's obsession with defining rap music as the barometer of black "culture" is quite curious and dovetails with last week's discussion on Ja Rule's publicity stunt, and, the new BET special on hip-hop's influence on contemporary pop culture. He probably isn't aware that American Express, Time Warner, Boeing, Merrill Lynch, K-mart and Young & Rubicam are headed by black CEOs. That certainly isn't the norm, but, black families are more likely to have teachers, nurses, lawyers and civil servants in their families than rap music impresarios.

Bill O'Reilly: "No Difference" at Sylvia's [Media Matters]
Hip-Hop vs America [Keith Boykin]

Some Background ...
Home Depot Dumps Bill O'Reilly [R20]
Bill O'Reilly: "Insane" to Bring Children Near Gays [R20]

Comments

[taylor Siluwé]

Amazing post.

So many things: first, Sharpton taking the likes of O'Reilly on an eye-opening field trip is an awesome lesson for us all. Sometimes when people say things that are ass-backwards and butt-ignorant of the facts, they are just that. They just don't know.

Maybe Bill O will look at things differently now. We can only hope.

As for all those black CEO's, Bill O is not the only one who doesn't know this. I confess, most of those were news to me, too.

With the democratic primaries looming and the White House at stake, maybe one way to energize our SGL political power base is not to assume all of us are aware of the awesome power we possess.

We need to keep the dialogue going and keep making sure the facts are straight. Thanks for reminding me of that.

[Derrick from Philly]

Somebody ought to remind O'Reilly that years ago, white men came up to Harlem all the time for a little "when the sun goes down" entertainment. It happened in every city in this country.

[Me]

I think the above commenter is right. As much as we'd like to say "people should know black people don't act like that" a lot of them don't. Shit, there are BLACKS who would probably react the same way. I'm not a fan of his, but, at least he was honest.

[Kevin C]

Everytime this nut opens his mouth with regard to race, I have to check my calendar and see if it's still 2007 or 1957. Damn.

Kevin C
ATL

[Luther]

Big whoop O'Reilly, he now knows that black folks have as much good taste in clothes as he thought only whites had. And, not all wear those silly baggy clothes, gold teeth or call their mothers nasty names. This man lives in NYC and just figured this out? His and his ilk over at Faux News are just disgusting. Too bad Faux News does not have more than a couple of token blacks and security at the door, they could have told him this. If, we all thought along his backwards racial lines, I would say all whites are still undercover bigots, sheesh, what a churl.

And, odd how the Irish-Americans seem to have forgot their own history, when they were looked down on with the same generalizations he is using in 2007.

[Dluv33]

One of the problems is we have allowed most negative aspects of Hip-Hop to be the dominant culture of African Americans to the point where white people think we all are like that. Mature, regular hard working black folks are practically invisible in the media.

[Luther]

Dluv33, you are spot on, the negative things are the only things that the media shows about blacks and young black men in particular, and, its not going to change anytime soon it seems.

[Jim]

Look, Bill O’Reilly is utterly malevolent. He is not ignorant, and he is certainly not stupid.

He no more thought that all black people had gold teeth or joined gangs or were uncouth than he thought that “Love thy neighbor as thyself” was a principle to live by. There is definitely a subtext here.

As far as I can see, this is the money quote: “I think black Americans are starting to think more and more for themselves.”

You know, I just can’t think of a better judge of black independent thought than Bill O’Reilly.

What O’Reilly means, of course, is that things might be getting better for him and his employers. More and more, there seem to be black people perfectly willing to sell what little soul they might actually have been born with in exchange for a few pieces of silver. Folks like Clarence Thomas, Thomas Sowell, Alan Keyes, J.C. Watts, Ken Blackwell, and Condoleezza Rice, and all the black pastors just too happy to get paychecks from the Republican National Committee in exchange for preaching homophobia and “family values” in the run-up to each election day.

[Ambboogie]

"O'Reilly's obsession with defining rap music as the barometer of black "culture" is quite curious and dovetails with last week's discussion on Ja Rule's publicity stunt, and, the new BET special on hip-hop's influence on contemporary pop culture. He probably doesn't know American Express, Time Warner, Boeing, Merrill Lynch, K-mart and Young & Rubicam have black CEOs. That certainly isn't the norm, but, black families are more likely to have teachers, nurses, lawyers and civil servants in their families than rap music impresarios. "

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This comment was SO on point. Thanks Rod.

[Mark]

Just heard the excerpt on Media Matters, and what he seems to be arguing is just like Jim (above) said. It is about promoting the notion that blacks who "choose" not to get ahead have only themselves to blame, since other blacks who face the same societal obstacles do muddle through and play along with the system. It is the fallacy of judging what opportunities have been available to one person based on the successes of an entirely different person. It is again treating all black people as if everyone had the exact same experience.
But in any case, he clearly was not expressing surprise at what he supposedly learned on a field trip to Harlem or to an Anita Baker concert. He is not telling what he learned, rather he is trying (simplemindedly) to convince people that racism is not really a hindrance to success in this system. His message is essentially callous and self-serving.

[Big E]

I think the problem is that o'Riley and others get these impressions based on what they are exposed to. I also think that blacks need to stand up and be heard rather than comdem a sucessfull black as being an uncle tom or crying whitie is putting them down. There are many successful black folks out there. They are the testament that if you work hard and educate yourself you will be rewarded. The exact opposite of what rap preaches. An for Pete's sake Having Al Sharpton as champion of your cause only encourages negative stereo types.