I have to admit, I never thought I’d see the day that Bill O’Reilly apologized for something. But after his comment about not wanting to take part in a Michelle Obama “lynching party” UNLESS she really deserved it, BOR probably looked around and realized he had taken a turn into Imus Country and better hang a U-turn ASAP. So BOR, for the first time in memory, acted responsibly and promptly (sort of) apologized. On the Feb. 21 O’Reilly Factor:

As you may know, I believe Mrs. Obama was only referring to politics when she said that for the first time in her adult life, she is proud of her country. Now, if you look at both of the speeches that she made — and I have — the context is purely political. So I defended Mrs. Obama on both radio and TV.

While talking to a radio caller, I said there should be no lynching in the case — that comment off Clarence Thomas saying he was the victim of a high-tech lynching. He said that on 60 Minutes, you may remember. I'm sorry if my statement offended anybody. That, of course, was not the intention. Context is everything.

As is often the case with politicians and the media, this isn’t a real apology — saying “I’m sorry if my statement offended anybody” is as much of an apology as saying “I’m sorry you feel that way” — but this is by far the closest BOR has actually come to one.

Here’s the thing. Very few people consider themselves to be racist, and even fewer would overtly display their racism even if they identified themselves as being a racist. But speaking from experience, I can say that most of the times I’ve experienced racism, it was from people who didn’t think what they were saying was racist. And in many cases, it was from people who thought they were being nice.

In case you didn’t know, I’m Asian (Korean/Chinese).

One day while working in a previous job, I went into the office of my boss, who was a great boss and a wonderful woman who I was very friendly with. I happened to be wearing a black turtleneck that day. When she saw me, she said, “Nice turtleneck. You look like a ninja!” This was meant as a compliment, but I know she never would’ve said this to someone who wasn’t Asian. She meant no harm at all, but I found this comment to be racist.

Another day, I was picking up some glasses for my brother. At the store, there was another Asian man waiting to pick up his glasses. When I got to the counter, the clerk (a white woman) tried to give me the other man’s glasses before I had the chance to speak. When the clerk realized her mistake, she laughed and said, “I’m sorry. You guys just look so much alike!” I looked at the other man. He looked nothing like me — except that he was Asian.

I love photography, but I grew frustrated with everyone always asking me if I was visiting from Japan whenever I had a camera with me.

BOR’s lynching comment is a lot like his comment about being surprised that Sylvia’s, a black-owned restaurant in Harlem, was not full of black people acting like rappers and swearing at each other. Both times, he was actually trying to say something nice — in this latest instance, he really was defending Michelle Obama, and BOR further defended her in his apology. But in doing so, BOR revealed how little he understands about black people.

BOR said he had felt comfortable using the term “lynching” because Clarence Thomas had claimed that the trial investigating Thomas’ alleged sexual harassment of Anita Hill amounted to a “high-tech lynching”. Note to BOR: if you think Clarence Thomas is somehow representative of black people in this country, you better have some more apologies lined up.