As you've heard by now, Juan Williams (Mr. Eyes on the Prize) was fired by NPR for going on the O'Reilly Factor and admitting that he's had fears when going onto a plane and seeing someone dressed in traditional Muslim attire.
Let's be honest, who hasn't experienced at least a milisecond of apprehension while scanning the faces of fellow passengers at your airport gate, especially right after the attacks occurred in 2001? I friggin' had to fly to Vermont for work the month after the attacks, and my nerves were admittedly on edge about anybody and anything, even some dark-skinned White folks. :)
I had this apprehension, even though my oldest friend in the DMV area had converted to Islam by then to marry her Muslim husband, and I lived with them for a month when I first moved here, AND had met members of her husband's devout extended family. Even my first boyfriend was technically Muslim (very non-traditional, but that's another story).
Don't get me wrong, I am not justifying or advocating prejudice in any way, especially of the type that Mr. O'Reilly expressed during his visit to "The View." I'm just saying that I understand Williams' perspective.
Although I'm not a fan of Mr. Williams' current role as Fox News' "token Negro" conservative contributor (side note: you should all check out what Jill Nelson wrote about him in Volunteer Slavery, a book that talks about her days at The Washington Post--required reading for any sister moving to D.C.), he expressed his fear in an honest, non-inflammatory way, and shouldn't have been fired. He also chided O'Reilly for the way he made a blanket statement on "The View" about how "Muslims attacked us on 9/11," instead of saying that terrorists who happened to be Muslims did so.
According to the New York Times, NPR didn't even give the brother a chance to talk with executive management and defend himself.
Williams may have been inartful in his comments, but NPR should have considered them as a whole instead of having an overly PC, knee-jerk reaction.
No comments:
Post a Comment