Syndicated TV host Bill O'Reilly welcomed Rev. Jesse Jackson on his show "The O'Reilly Factor" Thursday in lieu of controversial comments O'Reilly made recently.
O'Reilly was a guest on Juan Williams' NPR radio show and spoke about his recent visit to famed Harlem restaurant, Sylvia's. He was invited to dinner at the soul food restaurant by Rev. Al Sharpton.
While on Williams' show, the Fox News Channel host said he "couldn't get over the fact" that there was no difference between the black-run Sylvia's and other restaurants.
"It was like going into an Italian restaurant in an all-white suburb in the sense of people were sitting there, and they were ordering and having fun," he said. "And there wasn't any kind of craziness at all."
O'Reilly pointed to the lack of difference between Sylvia's and other restaurants as a marker of racial progress. He also noted that he went to an Anita Baker concert recently where the audience was evenly mixed between blacks and whites.
"The band was excellent, but they were dressed in tuxedoes, and this is what white America doesn't know, particularly people who don't have a lot of interaction with black Americans," he said. "They think the culture is dominated by Twista, Ludacris and Snoop Dogg."
While on his show with Jackson, he lamented that "many white people fear blacks" and that his comments were to showcase that "mainstream blacks" are just like everyone else. Jackson responded that his comments, although sounded a tad better in explanation, came from a place in which he underestimated the intelligence and culture of African-Americans.
"If I were to come to a white restaurant, and say 'Wow, there are no nooses hanging up', then that would be because I expect that there should be," said Jackson. Jackson felt that by saying those comments showed a lack of respect and low expectation for African-Americans initially for him to even utter the comments that he made.
The conversation switched to the Duke University lacrosse team scandal and the situation in Jena, LA with the "Jena Six".
O'Reilly asked Jackson how he felt that the white students and their families were embarassed only to be found not guilty. Jackson was fighting for the alleged rape victim, who was a black woman. Jackson responded that he felt good that justice was served. However, he did mention that one of the students said that if his parents did not have the money for good lawyers, he'd probably be found guilty, which was the main point Jackson was trying to drive home. Jackson wanted to talk about the financial disparity of justice of which poor people, typically minorities, are scapegoats and victims of the justice system.
In the "Jena Six" case, Jackson described to O'Reilly the entire situation, much of which O'Reilly tried to talk over Jackson. Instead of asking how to prosecute the white students who got away with many crimes before the "Jena Six" fight, he asked what the courts should do if "a 16-year old is trying to kill" another person.
O'Reilly ended the show by saying that "if a 16-year old is trying to kill one of my family members, I want swift justice." The issue was that the "Jena Six" did not try to kill the student, but they did beat him up very badly.
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