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This is from a mass email by the group Color of Change. This is not the first time Bill O’Reilly has used his program to childishly attack African American neighborhoods, but it does get old after awhile.<\/h3>\nThis is from a mass email by the group Color of Change. This is not the first time Bill O’Reilly has used his program to childishly attack African American neighborhoods, but it does get old after awhile.<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
During a July 28th segment on his FOX News program, Bill O\u2019Reilly claimed that \u201cin certain ghetto neighborhoods it\u2019s part of the culture\u201d for 9-year old Black children to smoke marijuana. 1<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n Apparently, O\u2019Reilly thinks criminality and drug abuse are woven into the very fabric of Black life. He even had the audacity to decry Black parents for allegedly smoking marijuana in front of their children.<\/p>\n This is dangerous rhetoric; a classic example of FOX News and conservatives attacking Black communities in order to advance their outlandish, right-wing agenda and smear fair policies.<\/strong> Such irresponsible speech shapes perceptions of Black people in the minds of viewers, endangering Black people in workplaces, courtrooms, and classrooms across the country. Bill O\u2019Reilly\u2019s latest antics cannot be tolerated.<\/p>\n Click here to check out video of the segment, and join us in demanding Bill O\u2019Reilly issue an apology and correction regarding his outrageous statements about the Black community. <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Bill O\u2019Reilly\u2019s race-baiting statements aren\u2019t just offensive, they\u2019re inaccurate.<\/strong> Earlier in the program, he suggested Black people do not suffer disproportionate legal repercussions for marijuana use and possession.2<\/sup> In reality, Black people are almost four times as likely to be arrested for possession than whites, even though Blacks and whites use marijuana at roughly the same rates.3<\/sup> There is no question that Black people have unfairly shouldered the greatest burden from the failed, costly War on Drugs. These types of inaccurate, dehumanizing representations of Black people on the news actually lead to the over-policing and mass incarceration to which O\u2019Reilly wants his viewers to turn a blind eye.<\/p>\n O\u2019Reilly\u2019s rhetoric exploits racial stereotypes in order to sour his viewers on worthwhile progressive policies.<\/strong> In fact, the next night O\u2019Reilly was at it again, explaining away the role of racial profiling in drug arrests because Black neighborhoods are essentially filled with criminals deserving of harassment from police.4<\/sup> Research shows there are dire consequences for Black people when these outlandish archetypes rule the day; abusive treatment by police, less attention from doctors, and harsher sentences from judges, just to name a few.5<\/sup><\/p>\n We know that Bill O\u2019Reilly rarely apologizes or recognizes his mistakes; making outrageous and race-baiting comments has been a part of his ugly brand of punditry for years. But enough is enough. With such a large following and platform, he must be held accountable for the dissemination of these harmful mistruths about Black communities.<\/strong> And those politicians and more \u201cmainstream\u201d public figures who continue to join his show, benefit from his platform, and align themselves with him will be held accountable as well. We can no longer let them silently stand by while O\u2019Reilly makes such dangerous and dehumanizing remarks again and again.<\/p>\n Stand with us in demanding Bill O\u2019Reilly issue an apology and correction regarding his dehumanizing statements about Black people. <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Thanks and Peace,<\/p>\n –Rashad, Arisha, Matt, Aim\u00e9e, Dallas and the rest of the ColorOfChange team. Help support our work.<\/strong><\/a> ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU\u2014your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don’t share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way.<\/p>\n References<\/p>\n 1. \u201cO’Reilly: ‘In Certain Ghetto Neighborhoods It’s Part of the Culture’ for Children to Smoke Marijuana,\u201d Media Matters, 7-28-14 2. \u201cFox News’ Bill O’Reilly Claims Ghetto Culture Causes 9-Year Old Black Kids to Smoke Weed,\u201d Politics USA, 7-29-14 3. \u201cThe War on Marijuana in Black and White,\u201d ACLU, June 2013 4. \u201cO’Reilly on Racial Profiling of Drug Offenders: It’s Not About ‘Let’s Hunt Down the Black People Today,’\u201d Media Matters, 7-29-14 5. \u201cMedia Representations and Impact on the Lives of Black Men and Boys,\u201d The Opportunity Agenda <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is from a mass email by the group Color of Change. This is not…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
July 30, 2014<\/p>\n
<\/a>http:\/\/act.colorofchange.org\/go\/3716?t=7&akid=3529.1537768.J-kCqX<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/a>http:\/\/act.colorofchange.org\/go\/3717?t=9&akid=3529.1537768.J-kCqX<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/a>http:\/\/act.colorofchange.org\/go\/3718?t=11&akid=3529.1537768.J-kCqX<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/a>http:\/\/act.colorofchange.org\/go\/3719?t=13&akid=3529.1537768.J-kCqX<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/a>http:\/\/act.colorofchange.org\/go\/3685?t=15&akid=3529.1537768.J-kCqX<\/a><\/p>\n