Last year, during the controversy over Juan Williams' firing from NPR, I argued that, aside from the general recklessness of rushing to fire people for making controversial comments, Williams shouldn't have been let go for being honest about his own prejudices, but that he was hardly expressing remorse over being afraid of Muslims in "Muslim garb."
William Saletan, on the other hand, defended Williams, saying that "sometimes a confession of prejudice is part of a larger reflection on the perils of prejudice." That's true in general but not of Williams. Guest-hosting for Bill O'Reilly last night, Williams made it clear in an exchange with Dr. Caroline Helmand, he doesn't even think of viewing someone with suspicion because of their race and clothing is actually prejudice, since everyone does it (transcript from Business Insider):
Helmand: "I happen to agree with Schiller that your comments were bigoted. I think that if I were to say that I clutch my purse every time I walk by a black man that might resonate with a lot of Americans. It might be the truth but it's a bigoted statement. I certainly wouldn't have fired you but I do think there was some truth in that video that we don't get to talk about because we are afraid to have actual discourse in this country."
Williams: "I can't believe that you just said that. You think that simply saying what you think is evidence of bigotry that all of a sudden it's as if you were walking by a black man that would mean if you were bigoted if you were somewhat nervous. Let me just tell you, with the amount of black on black crime in America, I get nervous and I'm a black man. So, I mean, wait a second..."
Helmand: "There we go again, Juan. I would find that to be racial profiling that's a bigoted comment."
Williams: "That's a bigoted comment?"
Helmand: "Yes it is. Just like your comment about Muslims."
Williams: "I'm the father of black young men and I'm saying that if you saw a couple guys walking around looking like thugs down the street late at night, you're saying 'Oh, I'm not going to think it through.' Caroline, I think you are way off base."
There you go. Being afraid of random black people, like being afraid of Muslims, is not prejudice because we all feel that way, amirite?
I realize that on Fox News, openly confessing one's fear of blacks and Muslims is seen as a kind of brave stand against political correctness, but given that the channel itself is a font of racial resentment and Islamophobic paranoia, Williams' remarks here are about as "brave" as confessing to Code Pink that you're skeptical of U.S. intervention in Libya.
