Why Jesse Skated and Juan Did Not

By Jack Cashill

The correspondents on left wing blogs have been rummaging through the dusty closets of their respective brains to find new justifications for NPR's self-destructive sacking of Juan Williams.

One such correspondent on a Media Matters blog came up with the following: "If somebody on TV said, ‘Hey, every time I see a bunch of Black guys walking down the street, I get afraid....' then that would be clear bigotry. Everyone would see it."

Well, maybe, maybe not. A few years ago, the right reverend Jesse Jackson had this to say: "There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery. Then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved."

This is the same Jesse Jackson, of course, who once said, "That's all Hymie wants to talk about is Israel. Every time you go to Hymietown that's all they want to talk about."

Maybe I missed something, but I do not recall NPR ever banning Jackson from its airwaves. The reason why is simple enough. Jackson is not only more politically reliable than Williams, but he is also more politically useful. NPR apparently has little use for a black man who is not easily exploited.