Juan Williams Caught in an Old Trap

Juan Williams got fired from NPR for telling the truth in an interview on Fox. His truth that seeing people dressed in Muslim garb makes him nervous is inconvenient to say the least. And what's most troubling about it is Williams allowing himself to fall in step with the Islamaphobia of our times. It's an old trap. And one with which Juan is all too familiar. Stereotyping. For years, local news casts were filled with stories of murder and mayhem from poor predominantly black neighborhoods. Many an Anglo-American used those images as license to hate blacks. And they felt plenty justified. With rare exception the only images we see of Muslims are of jihadists bent on America's destruction. It was easy to justify your fear Juan. You simply should have known better. If Williams had said, 'It bothers me that I feel this way.' Or that, 'Intellectually I understand this isn't true.' It might have started an important and overdue conversation.

Juan Williams: NPR Head's Remarks Were an Attack

Just a minute...I'm Harry Smith, CBS News.