Bill O’Reilly and Cornel West went head to head on Thursday over the #BlackLivesMatter movement and the history of white supremacy.
“I’m totally innocent about the historical stuff,” the Fox News host said. “You want to take my stuff and give it to other people because of what may have happened in the past.”
West argued that if all O’Reilly wants to talk about is personal responsibility, he’s ignoring the systemic issues of poverty and economic injustice.
“The poor in America live better than most other middle class in the world,” O’Reilly argued. West countered that there’s been a redistribution of wealth in America taking from poor people and giving to the wealthy and it’s time to help the poor.
“You want to help the working class after it trickles down from the one percent,” West said about O’Reilly’s philosophy. O’Reilly reiterated that personal responsibility needs to be practiced by African Americans.