With all that has happened over the past 48 hours in the U.S. (never mind the rest of the world), Fox News once again sinks to the occasion with indignation at another so-called injustice. Amidst angry protests over Chicago’s release of the Laquan McDonald execution video, Fox News’s Megyn Kelly, anchor of The Kelly File, was appalled at a protestor who stared down a Chicago police officer.
Kelly had a real problem with what the young man was doing, saying that she didn’t think it was appropriate. Because, you know, Black folks aren’t supposed to look white people in the eyes. Not during the era of enslavement; not immediately after; not way, way after; and not today. “Reckless eyeballing” is actually a thing. And Megyn Kelly is mad about it.
This is not something that some white folks take lightly. That’s evidenced by this report from October on a 12-year-old black child who was suspended from his Catholic school after engaging in a staring contest with a fellow student. The student happened to be a white female. Or this report from August of this year, when a man in Dayton, Ohio, recorded his interaction with a police officer. The man was stopped for “making direct eye contact” with the officer. Or this report from two years ago when a 14-year-old boy was brutally restrained for giving a cop “dehumanizing stares.”
For the record, Kelly also didn’t think it was appropriate for Jason Van Dyke to shoot Laquan McDonald 16 times. Thank goodness.