Juan Williams, the Happy Negro

From Sister Toldjah, I read that Juan Williams is being attacked by Black media as a “Happy Negro”, a term I’m not familiar with, but apparently he is familiar, according to the Time article he wrote about the incident that caused this inflammatory name-calling;

It started with Bill O’Reilly’s grandmother. And it blew up into charges of O’Reilly being called a racist and me being attacked as a “Happy Negro” (read that as a lackey or Uncle Tom).

I guess, O’Reilly being the king of primetime cable news programs makes him a lightning rod for every specious charge on the planet. I’m not a fan of O’Reilly or Williams, for that matter, but I think everyone needs to chill on this one.

I once met Juan Williams, by chance during our lunch hours (we both work within blocks of each other, so it was inevitable). We talked briefly and I found him to be a very friendly fellow. We talked about Panama (he’s Panamanian by birth, by the way, so it’d be tough for him to be an “Uncle Tom” since he shares skin color, but not a heritage with American Blacks) and his career. The first I’d ever heard of him was when we used his book “Eye on the Prize” in a history seminar I took once.

I’m not fond of his politics, but I’ve always admired him since he took a few minutes of his lunch period to talk with me. I’ve read some of his books, and he’s a meticulous reseacher and writes very well – for a journalist. Given the body of his published works, by that alone, I can’t imagine the Black media thinking that Williams is anything except a proud Black man working for the betterment of Black society. If they want to take the side of braggart thugs creating an image of Black society that is totally out of sync with reality, against Williams, perhaps Black media-types ought to take account of their own values. If it can be said that Williams is carrying water for O’Reilly, then it is also true that the Black Media is carrying water for convicted and potential felons. Who is on higher ground in this discussion?

Newsbuster’s Noel Sheppard does the background on Media Matters, the group that cherry-picked O’Reilly’s comments as well as the Limbaugh incident this week.

Category: Media, Politics, Society