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Star Jones is getting good with these open letters. First she was telling the media to back off of the Heath Ledger ordeal, now she’s responding to Bill O’Reilly’s comments about Michelle Obama. I’m not mad at her, it’s always nice when someone uses their celebrity for something good.

A little background, someone was mad that Michelle Obama said “for the first time in my adult lifetime, I’m really proud of my country” and they called into his show.

O’Reilly responded by saying, “I don’t want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there’s evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels. If that’s how she really feels - that is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever - then that’s legit. We’ll track it down.”

Lynching party? Track it down? What is this an 1808 plantation?

Here’s Jones’ response:

“… What the hell? If it’s “legit,” you’re going to “track it down?” And then what do you plan to do?

How dare this white man with a microphone and the trust of the public think that in 2008, he can still put the words “lynch and party” together in the same sentence with reference to a black woman; in this case, Michelle Obama? I don’t care how you “spin it” in the “no spin zone,” that statement in and of itself is racist, unacceptable and inappropriate on every level.

O’Reilly claims his comments were taken out of context. Please don’t insult my intelligence while you’re insulting me. I’ve read the comments and heard them delivered in O’Reilly’s own voice; and there is no right context that exists. So, his insincere apology and “out-of-context” excuse is not going to cut it with me…

…Bill, I’m not sure of where you come from, but let me tell you what the phrase ‘lynching party’ conjures up to me, a black woman born in North Carolina . Those words depict the image of a group of white men who are angry with the state of the own lives getting together, drinking more than they need to drink, lamenting how some black person has moved forward (usually ahead of them in stature or dignity), and had the audacity to think that they are equal. These same men for years, instead of looking at what changes, should and could make in their own lives that might remove that bitterness born of perceived privilege, these white men take all of that resentment and anger and decide to get together and drag the closest black person near them to their death by hanging them from a tree — usually after violent beating, torturing and violating their human dignity. Check your history books, because you don’t need a masters or a law degree from Harvard to know that is what constitutes a ‘lynching party.’

You can read the rest at Huffington Post.

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