Sunday 30 September 2007

Hip-Hop Chess Fights Back

My first real exposure to blogs was via political blogs such as Atrios and Crooks and Liars. These blogs do an excellent job of covering US politics, as well as dispelling any notion that the intelligence of most Americans is only represented by the hosts on Fox News.
And speaking of Fox News hosts, Bill O'Reilly (think Alan Jones with a TV show) is in trouble for indulging in what some call "soft" racism. After a visit to a restaurant in Harlem, New York, O'Reilly commented that he "couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks, primarily black patronship."
Full coverage of his remarks is available at mediamatters.org, but to be fair to O'Reilly he did claim that by publishing his comments in full, mediamatters were "quoting him out of context".

Well the Hip-Hop Chess Federation have joined the debate, sending an open letter to O'Reilly, inviting him to their next chess tournament. You can read the letter here. I would be surprised if O'Reilly takes up the offer but if he does I'll keep you posted.

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