_renderMessage() {
    return (
        <View style={ ... }>
            <Text>List is Empty</Text>
        </View>
    )
}

_renderListView() {
    return (
        <ListView
            ...
        />
    )
}

render() {
    if (this.state.dataSource.getRowCount() == 0) {
        return this._renderMessage()
    } else {
        return this._renderListView()
    }
}