Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, host of “The O’Reilly Factor” has spent the last week talking a great deal about Syracuse Professor and regular CNN analyst Dr. Boyce Watkins.  Last week, O’Reilly dedicated an entire episode toward expressing his disdain for the professor, and then cited quotes, images and video clips of Watkins every day for an entire week.  Additionally, there were multiple radio shows and other segments in which O’Reilly described Watkins as part of a CNN conspiracy to bring him down.  O'Reilly also accused Dr. Watkins of disrupting the credibility of Juan Williams, a regular Fox News contributor who has been under heavy fire for his latest book, which some believe is an assault on the black community.

 O'Reilly featured Watkins on several episodes this week, arguing that it is a double standard that Watkins is not fired for using the term "Happy Negro" to describe Juan Williams.  Watkins, in his response, argued that the term was used to describe Williams' desire to apologize for Bill O'Reilly, whom he considers to be a racist.
 
Dr. Watkins, who is in New York speaking at The Corporate Counsel Women of Color Conference, said that he felt that the segments were funny.  “I loved the way O’Reilly made it look like there was some professor under huge fire,” said Watkins.  “O’Reilly is a joke and I barely pay attention to racists like him.”
 
Watkins was invited to publish his response to Juan Williams in mainstream publications, but he declined.  Instead, he published with Black America Web, EURWeb and other black media to reach a black audience.
 
“Bill said that I was marginalized, and he is right. Any black man who speaks honestly on race in America is going to be marginalized by the predominantly white media,” said Watkins.  “My mother told me I was marginalized the day I decided to be proud of being black, and I accept that.”