Fox News Is Using the Obamas to Perfect Its Racist Attacks on Black America

By Tolu Olorunda, The Black Commentator. Posted January 29, 2009.

"… The matter is that, when Bill O'Reilly gets Juan Williams, the eternal happy Negro, on his show to congratulate him on his racism, that's like Hugh Hefner getting a stripper to come on the show and tell him that he's not a sexist.” --Syracuse University Professor Boyce Watkins, on CNN (Sept. 26, 2007).

"Over 600,000 people of every color across the country are demanding that Fox stop their racist attacks on the Obama family and on black America. We already know that Fox is not a news network ... Fox poisons this country every time they air racist propaganda and try to call it news." -- Hip-hop artist Nas, with ColorOfChange.org, upon delivering boxes with more than 600,000 anti-Fox News signatures at the network's headquarters.

Very few readers are shocked to hear that Fox News hates the first family, and black people in general. Over the years, but most intensely within the last two, the Roger Ailes-controlled cesspool has unabashedly spewed, propagated and transmitted the most repugnant lies ever heard about President Barack Obama, his family and background.

Readers might recall that it was Fox News which first put out the lie, perhaps giddily, that Obama was schooled in a madrassa -- with the intimation that being so, though untrue, is akin to one blemished with the mark of the beast.

It is also Fox News which has consistently supported such unashamed bigots like Don Imus and Duane "Dog" Chapman. With this backdrop, Fox News has successfully set a record for being the only TV network willing to go as far as the unthinkable suggests -- in favor of accruing ratings.

With the mainstream appeal of Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, the cable channel has quickly become a leading voice in public discourse. In the last few years, responsible readers have come to realize that, when applied to Fox News, Stan Lee was wrong to think that "with great power comes great responsibility."

Fox has, instead, abused its authority, every step of the way. With the employment of the most reactionary commentators money can buy, Fox has set an insurmountable precedent in attacking anyone on the other side of its neocon agenda. Seeking to broaden its capital in the living rooms of millions around the world, Fox News publicly embraces black commentators, but, as many readers and viewers have noticed, most black commentators and analysts who appear on Fox News are of a very hawkish, right-wing, self-loathing orientation.

Those blacks (and non-blacks) who have the intellect, poise and emotional stability to withstand the sophistry of its anchors are verbally abused and disrespected on the air. It is for this reason that Juan Williams, Larry Elder, the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, Angela McGlowan, Michael Steele, et al., play the game as safe as possible.

After all, the rewards of doing the master’s wishes are enormous! No, you don’t get your own show, but you get to share the stage, for 4 to 6 minutes (occasionally), with some of the world’s most fascistic-minded pundits ever seen.

Juan Williams, in this field of play, is a veteran athlete, and one of the most skilled.

Williams has, over the years, found it very hard to dissent from Fox News’ unregulated hatred of black people. His ability to remain at the service of his bosses has earned him a special place in O’Reilly's and Hannity’s hearts. A frequent analyst, he is prone to say what he feels is compatible with Fox News’ racist identity. As the African American go-to guy for black-bashing, immigrant-bashing, Iraqi-bashing, Williams knows his role and plays it well. A couple of nights back, on the O’Reilly factor, Williams showed why he’s, after all, Fox News’ golden black boy.

See more stories tagged with: racism, propaganda, obama, fox news, juan williams

Tolu Olorunda is a columnist for the Black Commentator.

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