It's Always Something

     One of my favorite characters on Saturday Night Live in the early years was created by Gilda Radner, Roseanne Roseannadanna. Her catch phrase was, "It's always something," which she'd whine in an irritating, nasally voice, and then proceed to recite some inane tidbit of gossip about some celebrity's gross habits. I wish she were still around; I can only imagine what Ms. Roseannadanna would have to say about Bill O'Reilly's most recent comments that have stirred up a tempest in a teapot.

     Just in case you've been vacationing in the Swiss Alps for the past few days, here's a brief recap. Mr. O'Reilly invited Al Sharpton out to dinner as a thank you for Sharpton having agreed to be a guest on his show, The Factor, a number of times.  O'Reilly selected the restaurant, a popular, soul food restaurant in Harlem known as Sylvia's. Evidently, a good time was had by all. Such a good time that Mr. O'Reilly shared his insights about his dining experience on The Radio Factor, a few days later. Following is an excerpt of the comments that have garnered all the attention:

And we went to Sylvia's, a very famous restaurant in Harlem. I had a great time, and all the people up there are tremendously respectful. They all watch The Factor. You know, when Sharpton and I walked in, it was like a big commotion and everything, but everybody was very nice....And I couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks, primarily black patronship. It was the same, and that's really what this society's all about now here in the U.S.A. There's no difference. There's no difference. There may be a cultural entertainment -- people may gravitate toward different cultural entertainment, but you go down to Little Italy, and you're gonna have that. It has nothing to do with the color of anybody's skin....There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, "M-Fer, I want more iced tea."...You know, I mean, everybody was -- 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. And there wasn't any kind of craziness at all.

     Some have alleged that Mr. O'Reilly's comments were racist, but I don't hold with that opinion. I read the entire transcript from the program and I think that he actually intended his comments to be positive, even complimentary. Notice that I said intended; I haven't been kicked in the head by a horse recently and I don't find his remarks complimentary, but neither do I think that they are racist. (If you would like to read the entire transcript, please click here. It's not very long.)     What has intrigued me about all of this are the comments that I've been reading on blogs and news stories about this minor ripple on the pond of discontentment that plagues this country. There appears to be a sentiment that black folks should feel highly complimented by Mr. O'Reilly's words. I repeat, I'm not calling his comments racist nor am I alleging that Bill O'Reilly is a racist, but I do find it disturbing that folks don’t understand why black people aren't just falling all over ourselves in delight over his comments.     Let me try to explain it with an analogy; y'all know that I love analogies. Imagine that I visit your home and after leaving, I publicly marvel at the fact that your house was clean, you didn't smell, and that you were just like other people. Would you feel complimented?      I agree that we toss the term racism around too much; it detracts from real racism, which does exist. However, Mr. O'Reilly's comments reflect ignorance and condescension; he's not a racist, just a moron. Maybe if Mr. O’Reilly lets us know in advance the next time that he plans to visit a black owned restaurant, we can plan on break dancing on the table tops and shouting M**F**er loudly while we drink iced tea.      If you still don’t get it, I’m not offended. This really isn’t a big deal and I’m not losing sleep over O’Reilly’s remarks. I take them as well intentioned and try to leave it at that. I just hope that he doesn’t decide to compliment us any more.