Roland Martin Destroys Bill O’Reilly with Epic Blacksplainer on War and Freedom

The running protest of NFL star Colin Kaepernick has brought out the worst in some people, the best in others, and it’s brought out the funk in NewsOne Now host and NABJ Award-winner Roland Martin, who lit into Fox News host Bill O’Reilly over his ill-informed anti-Kaepernick rant. Roland, who makes a regular habit of nailing O’Reilly like a roofer on his third cup of coffee, began by debunking the most fundamental flaw in O’Reilly’s rant, the notion that the Revolutionary War was fought to “free everyone”:

Bill, what books are you reading? What Black folks were freed during the American Revolution?

…In fact, last I checked, many Black folks who first came to this country in 1619 fought for the British in order to gain their freedom – that’s a historical fact.

You didn’t even need to read a book to know that, though, since they just got done playing that remake of Roots, but Roland went on to challenge the idea that black people in post-Reconstruction America were “free,” and suggested some reading of his own for O’Reilly, who had haughtily suggested Kaepernick read his book. The common theme for this reading list quickly became apparent:

I dare say there has been no one person who has been a truer American patriot than an African-American who has been willing to fight for this nation when the nation would not fight for him and her.

Here’s the list of suggested reading for O’Reilly (via NewsOne Now):

• Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans
• I Never Had It Made: An Autobiography of Jackie Robinson
• Patton’s Panthers: The African-American 761st Tank Battalion In World War II
• American Patriots: The Story of Blacks in the Military from the Revolution to Desert Storm
• Strength for the Fight: A History of Black Americans in the Military
• Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.: American: An Autobiography
• The Double V Campaign: African-Americans in World War II
• The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America
• On the Altar of Freedom: A Black Soldier’s Civil War Letters from the Front
• Buffalo Soldiers: The Colored Regulars in the United States Army
• The Marines of Montford Point: America’s First Black Marines

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.