On the one hand, Barbara Walters is right: adults who are professionals should be able to have a grownup discussion about the hot topics of the day. And it’s clear if you watch the rest of the segment that Bill O’Reilly was goading both Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar to push their buttons, setting the stage for a blowup that will no doubt be beneficial to O’Reilly’s languishing cred and flat ratings.

He’s gotta do something to keep up with Glenn Beck, right?

On the other hand, what Racist O’Reilly said was beyond the pale and I’m glad that Walters, with help from Behar and Goldberg, was able to bring him to heel. He repeated over and over again that “Muslims killed us on 9/11” — a bigoted view that has no place in modern American discourse. This pervasive fear-fueled ignorant bigotry that sadly too many people share is causing widespread discrimination against American Muslims. The Restore Fairness campaign has just released a video “Face The Truth: Racial Profiling Across America”, produced by Breakthrough’s and the Rights Working Group, showcasing the devastating impact of racial profiling on communities around our country, including the African American, Latino, Arab, Muslim and South Asian communities.

The documentary accompanies a new report by the Rights Working Group released along with 275 local and national partners on the one year anniversary of the Face the Truth campaign to end racial profiling. Both the video and report urge Congress to pass the End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA).

Face the Truth: Racial Profiling Across America from Breakthrough on Vimeo.

O’Reilly’s persistence in spreading hatred impacts real people’s lives. In the video above, a grown up man literally breaks down because he was driving while Muslim in “the wrong neighborhood” & profiled (sound familiar?) and a Latino woman talks about her experience of being profiled while 9 months pregnant.

It’s got to stop and while Whoopi and Joy’s behavior was extreme, so too were the hateful, ignorant words of O’Reilly who has a long, rich history of divisiveness behind him. Their walkout forced us all to stop and confront the issue. And that’s not a bad thing. I hope O’Reilly’s words will be condemned by all media for what they are — racist, bigoted hate speech that divides, not unites us as one nation, under God.

Bill: “Muslims” didn’t kill “us” on 9/11. Decode: “Rag-headed darkies who are different than us” didn’t kill “God-fearing wealthy white people” on 9/11. That’s not what happened.

Extremist terrorists killed Americans from all walks of life and of many different ethnicities & religions including Muslims, Christians and Jews in NY, DC and PA on 9/11. It’s a tragedy ALL Americans shared that day. Let’s remember that — and not compound that tragedy with a million more small ones through racial & ethnic profiling.

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