Fox News host Megyn Kelly laid out evidence supporting what a disbelieving Bill O’Reilly called the “white privilege theory” Monday night to explain why the black community in Ferguson, Mo. feels justice won’t be served in the Michael Brown shooting.
Kelly ran down a list of statistics, including the disparity in employment between blacks and whites in Ferguson and that blacks are three times as likely as whites to be subjected to or threatened with force by police.
O’Reilly then challenged those numbers, claiming Attorney General Eric Holder really held the reins in the investigation into the fatal shooting of Brown, an unarmed black teenager, by a white police officer.
“I don’t know why African-Americans wouldn’t have confidence in that,” he said. Kelly reminded him that Holder is running a satellite investigation to the primary inquiry being carried out in St. Louis County.
“It all comes down to family, culture, personal responsibility,” O’Reilly continued, contrasting black culture with what he called the “Asian success story.” “All of these things which we don’t hear anything, or much about, and this is what drives the poverty.”
“It’s not just family culture,” Kelly countered.
“The black population feels forgotten, Bill. That’s why they feel resentful,” she added. “They don’t believe the justice system is gonna give them a fair shake, they don’t believe the economic system is gonna give them a fair shake. President Obama made all sorts of promises that didn’t come through, their Democratic governor in Missouri made all sorts of promises that didn’t come true. They have very few people to trust.”
Watch below via Media Matters:
So much for mansplaining…
What promises did President Obama make specifically to the black community? I’m black, I voted for Obama, and I don’t remember any promises directed specifically to black people. Such promises would be inappropriate, since a president is supposed to represent all people in this country, not just a segment of the population.
Note she doesn’t point out the obvious that Republicans (and FOX viewers) are hostile to them.
That might stem from the segment of the population that was disappointed Obama wasn’t “more liberal” and/or “more activist” in his first term. I saw an article in Salon where Cornell West said that with Obama, he “expected John Coltrane, but got Kenny G.” Those promises may not have been made, but a lot of folks mistakenly took them as read.
For me, Obama’s been exactly what we’ve needed: Someone who remembers the pre-Dubya/TP method of governing involved compromise – which is unacceptable to both the Teahadists who own the House and the Dems & indies who saw Dubya & Darth steamroll anyone who was even remotely out of line.
Typical BS from 19th Century Fox. One bimbo talking to another…