If you put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig. And if you put satire on xenophobia, it’s still xenophobia. 

The O’Reilly Factor’s segment on Dearborn, which was supposed to be comedic, was racist, bigoted and dangerous. 

Jesse Watters, Bill O’Reilly’s correspondent who was sent to Dearborn, tried to ridicule his Arab American interviewees, mocking their cultural heritage and reinforcing divisive perceptions of Arabs and Muslims.

From the stereotypical music in the background, to including subtitles for people who were speaking accented English, one that tried to cast Arab Americans as a foreign race.

But we are all American— and most importantly— we are all human. And it is getting exhausting to try to prove both our Americanism and our humanity.

Fox News was not interested in our culture, small businesses and the tasty food in the city, or the stories of individuals who came here by choice and chased and realized the American dream. Fox paid no attention to Dearborn’s religious mosaic, where all faiths and cultures are tolerated, where there are mosques next to churches and Muslims are trying to invite the Jewish community to build a synagogue.

Including the perspective of a White interviewees who said Muslims are not nice and who lied about a stoning and honor killings in the city was not accidental. It was deliberate attempt to smear Dearborn and fuel fear to keep Fox News’ billionaire patrons empowered at the expense of the American people, who are preoccupied blaming ethnic and religious minorities for problems in this country.

Fox perpetuated the “us” vs. “them” rationale, which inevitably leads to conflict— and sometimes violence. 

Hours after the segment aired, O’Reilly’s viewers, who number in the hundreds of thousands per show, flooded the Internet with violent comments against Dearborn. If one of the calls to bomb Dearborn, which were circulating on social media, turns into a terrorist attack, Bill O’Reilly and Jesse Watters will have blood on their hands.

O’Reilly, who claimed in April of last year that there are militant mosques in Michigan, has a bit of an obsession with Dearborn.

We invite him to come to our community in person, not as a guest or journalist or tourist, but as an American visiting an American city. In addition to mosques (and churches), he would find places like Greenfield Village and the Dearborn Historical Museum. 

He could have a world-renowned burger at Miller’s Bar or grab a Shawarma sandwich from the countless Middle Eastern eateries that are second to none in quality and service.

He would also find out that we are just like anybody else, despite our little singularities.

We may drive badly, dress up like we are going to a wedding every day, watch soccer, consume raw beef (kibbe) and eat more hummus per capita than any other community. But that does not make us un-American. You shouldn’t be scared of us. We don’t stone people or harbor terrorists. We are a piece of the puzzle in this diverse nation.

The late Palestinian American intellectual Edward Said says:

“No one can deny the persisting continuities of long traditions, sustained habitations, national languages and cultural geographies, but there seems no reason except fear and prejudice to keep insisting on their separation and distinctiveness, as if that was all human life was about.”