Dear Fox,
Recently, numerous celebrities and athletes have shown their support for the lives lost at the hands of the police. From Nas marching in the streets of New York City to the case of?Orange is the New Black with their hands up in protest. But perhaps most controversially, athletes in various sports have decided to wear shirts on the playing field and court. However,?things changed when arguably the most famous athlete wore an “I Can’t Breathe Shirt.” Lebron James, NBA superstar, took to the court in Barclays Center in Brooklyn wearing the shirt, and afterwards the flurry of racially ignorant and downright repulsive remarks from?your network ensued.
In a very recent segment on your?popular nighttime show O’Reilly Factor,?host Bill O’Reilly said that blacks should wear “Don’t get pregnant at 14″ shirts. ?This is utterly reprehensible and is absolute proof of the racism your network promotes.
First, let me school you, Bill, on a few key points. Teen pregnancy for 14 year olds is incredibly rare and not even included in most?CDC statistics. Most data is collected from females ages 15 or older and includes all races. In 2012, the teen pregnancy rate for females 15-19 was the lowest it has ever been for that age range since they started keeping these stats. Also, the overall rate has been declining steadily for the past 20 years. From 2011 to 2012 in the age range of 15 to 19, the teen pregnancy rate dropped MORE for blacks than it did for whites. While blacks and Latinos still have a higher rate than whites overall, most scholars think this has to do with socioeconomic factors. Also, let’s not forget the idiotic rhetoric of many conservatives who want to make it HARDER?for?people to get preventative measures like birth control. So, don’t fool yourself into believing?that rich white teens aren’t sexually active. They just have the measures in place to prevent pregnancy or cover a pregnancy up if it were to take place. It seems like you are merely race baiting – an accusation Fox loves to hurl towards blacks who are actually racially conscious.
In another stunner, host Geraldo Rivera said that Lebron James should instead wear a shirt that read “Be a Better Father.” Yes, there is a staggering number of black kids being born out of wedlock and a staggering number of fathers who are absent in their child’s life. While sad, this shallow remark does nothing to explain?why this is the case. Again, socioeconomic plight plays a huge part. Also the criminal justice system locking up our brothers makes it impossible for many of them to be involved even if they wanted to. Let’s also not forget that our brothers are being killed at the hands of cops!
Thinking complexly is obviously not something most on Fox are capable of. Aside from that, your network personalities have?a pattern of wanting blacks to speak for their entire race and hold the burdens of everyone. Lebron James is a tremendous father. Not a soul has said he has not been there for his children. I am sure Lebron supports free black men standing up and taking care of their children. So what is the issue? Why don’t?you?rail against the system that puts blacks in jail and moves jobs from the inner city? Also, maybe certain people shouldn’t throw stones. Geraldo, have you forgotten your own history? You have?fathered five children and been married five different times. Also, reports say you have?allegedly fathered another child with an unnamed Mexican American woman.?So excuse me when I say, “Bye Felicia!”
The aforementioned “shirts” do NOTHING to address the issues that so many black and brown people and allies are out there protesting for. Being a good father will NOT save you. Eric Garner was a great father, an older man, and was choked to death with zero jail time for his killer. John Crawford was a young father in Ohio but by every account was a good one and was very happy to have a new child in his life. Still, he was gunned down in Wal-Mart for having a fake gun that is sold IN Wal-Mart. Your network?needs to realize that being a flawless person does not exist. Even being a good person doesn’t change your skin color. The reason these crimes are often so heinous is because blacks are profiled. This inherently means the perpetrators don’t know whether they are a good or bad father, whether they have teenage pregnancy in their life or not. Profiled. Killed. So, tell me what does teen pregnancy or “bad fathers” have to do with power hungry cops acting like bullies, shooting to kill and a system that protects them? Nothing.
Here are a few ideas for shirts that maybe you?could tell your?mostly white fan base to wear; since we all have to individually be responsible for whatever stats go against our race/culture.
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Lay Off The Narcotic Abuse
That’s a start. Over 30 million Americans over the age of 12 abuse narcotics and over 500,000 ER visits have been due to abuse of prescription medication. So, who abuses? Whites are more likely than ANY OTHER demographic to abuse narcotics. Yet, we do not throw these abusers in jail at the rate we throw black crack addicts or marijuana users/dealers in jail. We send them to rehab or ignore them altogether. As someone who has used prescribed narcotics, I can say that they are DEFINITELY?more dangerous than something like marijuana. So, let’s start a campaign for whites to wear shirts like this one or maybe “Don’t Turn Out Like Rush Limbaugh.” That might fit better.
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Let go of the guns and drugs even though you probably won’t be stopped because your skin color privileges you
Is that too wordy? In the city where your shows?are headquartered, New York City, whites are more likely to have guns or drugs in their possession than minorities. We all know that with the “Stop and Frisk” program minorities were more heavily targeted by a landslide. However, a study found that of those actually stopped whites were more likely to have these things on them. So, let’s start making these shirts for?white New Yorkers.
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Stop shooting up schools or Just Say No To Mass Murder
Geraldo, Bill, you and your comrades should support shirts like this for whites.?White men make up 75% of those responsible for rampage killings on U.S. record and 71% of massacres in schools. This is wildly disproportionate compared to the percentage of white men that make up this country. Again, plainly speaking, whites are more likely to be mass murderers than any other racial demographic. ?However, I bet those at Fox?would NEVER?suggest whites wear a shirt like this. When James Holmes or Adam Lanza committed what I consider acts of domestic terrorism, they were just mentally ill. They don’t speak to any larger problem of violent white males. Yet, black crime is solely due to moral emaciation and lack of ethics.
Screw you Fox. You are a disgrace. Just recently, you insulted protesters by making them and the barrage of blacks being killed less important than your lovely need to go Christmas shopping. Of course! Blocking traffic is way more offensive than cops killing people on video unjustly and getting away with it. I cannot speak for them, but I’m going to assume the Garner family, the Brown family, the Rice family, and many other families aren’t really in the mood for Christmas shopping.?I am so sick of you. I want your channel to be no more. The racially insensitive and drastically puerile views that perpetuate the conscious of your fans is extremely dangerous. I only wish that Lebron James, who has the voice to speak to millions if not billions, would publicly go on air and ridicule you all like the pieces of filth you are. Only one problem. Unlike the moral degenerate you try and make most black men out to be, Lebron has more class in his pinky than the entire Fox News cast of characters put together.
Sincerely,
Autumn Alston
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Autumn Alston was born and raised in Charlotte, NC. She expanded upon her loves of justice and liberalism at the University of CT where she graduated in 2012. She has always loved to write, debate, play basketball, and is obsessed with Angelina Jolie! She has met and interviewed famous people and seeks to work for a non profit and/or become a politician. Twitter:?https://twitter.com/autumnnalston
