(ThyBlackMan.com) Juan Williams, Fox News’ token Black political analyst, has been quoted as saying that National Public Radio (NPR), for whom he was a token correspondent for many years, exhibited “the worst of White condescension” when they fired him in late 2010.
The question is why it took Juan so long to realize that those who run NPR are quintessential examples of the kind of patronizing White person who will provide all kinds of assistance and sympathy for a Black individual or even for Black folks in general as long as that individual or those folks are 
prepared to accept White leadership. That is apparently exactly what Juan did for all those years at NPR. I don’t remember ever hearing a mumbling word from him about NPR’s White condescension during his lucrative reign as a token Black.
Comfortable culture
Skepticism about NPR’s treatment of Black journalists is not a recent phenomenon. On March 16, in response to the resignation of Vivian Schiller as the network’s President and CEO and Cheryl Hampton’s departure as Director of its News Staff Development, The National Association of Black Journalist (NABJ) issued a press release noting that “when Schiller arrived at NPR in 2009, she inherited a culture that was dismissive of diversity….” After applauding Schiller’s commitment to diversity, the release “challenges NPR to go beyond the relationship we had with Schiller and make a commitment to diversity at the highest levels.” Juan did quite well in the culture that was dismissive of diversity years before Schiller’s arrival.
It is also very amusing and revealing to see Juan’s reaction to his firing. (By the way I wonder what anyone else would do if a person, to whom one is paying a sizable monthly check, who is a regular guest on a national cable television program whose host frequently attacks the entity who is writing that check). He is one of those persons who derisively hurls charges of “playing the race card” at those Black folks who insist that race prejudice remains the dominant factor in the economic, political and cultural arenas in this country.
Those who believe that don’t regard this as an excuse for apathy and hopelessness but as realistic analysis needed if it is to be successfully challenged. After all, the ancestors of most Black folks didn’t let pervasive racial prejudice stop them from taking care of business. Juan and his like-minded colleagues use this type of rhetoric to advance their me, myself and I approach to career advancement in this country.
Supportive cheerleader
However, when proponents of this approach are confronted with the harsh reality of White supremacy or White condescension, as they inevitably will be one day, the first thing they do is to charge that they are being targeted because of race. O. J. Simpson did it; Clarence Thomas did it; now Juan is doing it, as witnessed by a recent appearance on Bill O’ Reilly’s Factor.
O’Reilly, whose White condescension matches that of NPR, was a supportive cheerleader as Juan played the race card in response to a charge by a White professor that he has hostility problems with other Black folks. One could only smile as he played the role of victim while O’Reilly goaded him on. It was a masterful performance by a real pro.
There is a lesson here for young Black folks. Though they must not allow the existence of race prejudice to divert them into lives of apathy and hopelessness, they must also not allow anyone to lull them into believing that this is now a post-racial country.
Written By A. Peter Bailey
