Here wherein Don Lemon whines that Russell Simmons dissed him.
“It shouldn’t matter if someone is Black, white, brown, purple, green, Democrat or Republican,” Lemon said. “If the truth they speak is saving lives, then no matter their intentions or background, we should listen. Attack the problem, not the messenger.”
Right here is where Don Lemon falls on his own pitard, there was nothing in what he said that would "save lives". Sorry he wasn't even close to doing that. He jumped into this argument by agreeing with an
amplifying the views of a Conservative who was
specifically blaming black people for their own problems as a way to excuse everyone else for having any responsibility. It was YOU Don Lemon who brought up Bill O'Reilly's statements and its YOU who clearly failed to truly listen to him and understand the context in which he presented them.
More from Rawstory. http://www.rawstory.com/...
Simmons, who at one point referred to Lemon as “a slave” on Twitter, accused Lemon in an Aug. 2 post of sounding like his strings were being pulled by Fox News hosts Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity when he said O’Reilly “doesn’t go far enough” in his criticisms against African-Americans.
“Conservatives love when we blame ourselves for the conditions that have destroyed the fabric of the black community,” Simmons wrote. “I respect your courage on many other issues, but I can’t accept that you would single out black teenagers as the cause of their own demise because they don’t speak the King’s English or wear belts around their waistbands.”
Lemon — who stated that Simmons declined multiple invitations for an on-camera discussion before Saturday — said that criticism made him question whether Simmons watched the original segment or wrote the response.
“I never blamed anyone for their own demise,” Lemon insisted. “I never pinned it on any teenagers. Nor did I mention the King’s English. I did, however, mention ‘the N-word.’”
Yes, actually you did blame people for their own demise. As soon as you sided with O'Reilly that's exactly what you did because
that was O'Reilly's Point.
O'Reilly was criticizing the Congressional Black Caucus and Activists such as Sharpton and Jackson for supposedly Not Caring about Black on Black Violence. This he said the same weekend that the Congressional Black Caucus and many leaders like Jackson had put together a special summit in Chicago to address - Black Gang Violence. http://www.chicagotribune.com/...
As the national debate over gun violence escalates, the Congressional Black Caucus came to Chicago on Friday promising to put together a plan to curb violence in urban areas.
Earlier this year Jesse Jackson along with the
BlackYouthProject.com had put together marches and rallies over the shooting death of Hadiyah Pendleton in Chicago.
http://www.yourblackworld.net/...
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. states “With each passing shot, the call for gun reform becomes more critical because of the stinging pain of past tragedies; we must work diligently to break this cycle of violence to prevent future tragedies”
Blaming Blacks for the Racism they receive is also exactly what Conservatives like Ted Nugent have said while
exactly echoing O'Reilly
On Wednesday, Nugent continued to blame African-Americans for their own oppression, insisting that “(t)he worst racism against blacks is documented and undeniable by blacks” and “The blacks have bought into this lie that somehow they’re oppressed when the President is black, the Attorney General is black, governors are black, senators are black, congressmen are black, mayors are black, Oprah Winfrey, the richest people in the world are black. It is a dirty lie.”
Calling civil rights advocates “race baiters” who are part of a “racist industry” that has supposedly convinced African-Americans that they are helpless and “incapable of independence,” Nugent said African-Americans could “solve the black problem tonight” if only they would put their “heart and soul into being honest, law-abiding, [and] delivering excellence at every move in your life.”
In other words, if Black people would stop looking like
criminals, people would stop
treating them like criminals, because obviously "they don't care about delivering excellence" since their
obviously criminals or so the five time out-of-wedlock dead-beat dad pedophile draft-dodging raging mad hatter gun-nut guitar-hack-has-been tells us.
The core of the O'Reilly/Nugent claim - that black people aren't addressing these issues, and that they if they don't look and act "respectable" they deserve to be mistreated - is FALSE. Yet you, Don Lemon ,decided to give legitimacy to O'Reilly's claim by giving black people a Miss Manners Lesson on how they can apparently avoid getting shot by each other or police by pulling up their pants.
Because I guess those are magical bullet repelling belts they have a the Gap Now?
Tell me something Don, if cleaning up good is all black people need to do to fight back against racism - and by inference any racism they receive if they don't get Queer-Eyed to be more Bougie the way you want them to be is then their own fault - how exactly do you explain what recently happened to Oprah Winfrey as she tried to shop for an expensive handbag in Zurich?
Ranked the most powerful celebrity in the world with a personal fortune estimated by Forbes magazine at $US2.8 billion, Winfrey recounted the story while discussing racism on US television show Entertainment Tonight.
Describing how she had spotted the handbag - designed by Tom Ford - while visiting Zurich before her friend Tina Turner's wedding, she said: ''I go into a store and I say to the woman, 'Excuse me, may I see the bag right above your head?' and she says to me, 'No. It's too expensive'.''
Winfrey said she insisted twice but the shop assistant allegedly refused to take it off the shelf and suggested other, cheaper bags instead. ''One more time, I tried. I said, 'But I really do just want to see that one', and the shopkeeper said, 'Oh, I don't want to hurt your feelings', and I said, 'OK, thank you so much. You're probably right, I can't afford it.' And I walked out of the store,'' Winfrey said.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/...
If OPRAH! can't clean up well enough to get respect, what do you think poor kids on the streets of Harlem and Chicago are supposed to do exactly?
Let's also recall that Conservatives like Rush Limbaugh tried to claim this couldn't have happened because Ms. Winfrey was being profiled based her skin tone - to him, it must have been because she's FAT.
On his program, The Rush hypothesized that because “we don’t know that the sales person based her judgment on The Oprah’s skin color,” the store clerk could have denied Winfrey on other grounds: “Maybe it’s because The Oprah’s fat? Well that’s another — how was The Oprah dressed? I mean she didn’t look like The Oprah obviously. Was she wearing jump suit with tennis shoes? Maybe Air Jordans that weren’t laced up?”
Obviously this incident couldn't have been racial if Oprah's
Air Jordans weren't laced Up!.
Are you starting to get a hint of howyou sound yet, Don? Just like Limbaugh.
What Limbaugh and O'Reilly and Nugent and YOU fail to realize is that prejudging someone for their weight or the clothing is not an Improvement from prejudging them based on their race. It's the SAME THING.
Whether someone is wearing a daishiki or has their pants saggin doesn't really tell you who they are - it's just Fashion. Judging someone based on that doesn't remove bigotry, it's Still bigotry. Someone saying or not saying the N-word doesn't add or subtract from the hatred or self-loathing in their heart. Wearing a wedding ring doesn't make you a Father. Picking up trash is simply moving one problem to another place, not addressing the larger problems we face with pollution, climate change, over-consumption and sustainability. There was literally Nothing in any of your 5 Magic suggestions that would actually "Save Lives". Not. A. Thing.
If you truly think there was, you're even more deluded and vain than people have said you are.
Lastly it's very interesting that Don Lemon decided to Stand His Ground in opposition to Russel Simmons, but didn't do that when he was name-checked by O'Reilly as he doubled down on his crusade to blame black people for their own problems.
Instead in response to O'Reilly's renewed attack on black people all you, Don Lemon, had to say was this:
Yet you didn't respond to Goldy Taylor with her heartfelt letter on your comments on the Grio, even though she did also call you a "Turn Coat Mofo".
Just saw Fruitvale Station. Heard Lemon remarks. There is nothing I can say. Yet. I just have to wonder. Exactly which America does he live in?
But if I had a dollar for every turn coat mofo who made it up and out, then cut the rope ladder behind him…
…they get to thinking that good money, good suits and good manners will make them see you differently…
I’ll tell you what though. If you step to the plate, your behind better be ready to take a pitch…
You didn't respond against Juan Williams - again echoing O'Reilly - as he attacked Michael Eric Dyson as a "race hustler" for his criticism of O'Reilly even though Dyson gave a shout-out to the President's speech to Moorehouse telling them there are "No excuses" - just as you did.
Michael: Yeah, well, it's interesting to me that when we say we want to have a conversation on race you want to have a conversation on blackness. You don't want to have a conversation on race, you don't want to have a conversation on white privilege, on unconscious bias, you don't want to talk about the collective world we made as black, red, brown, yellow and white people. You wanna lecture black people. And by the way Mr. O'Reilly Did you not hear - even though a lot of us disagree - did you not hear President Obama tell Morehouse college "No Excuse Making"?.
And you sure as heck didn't respond to Jay Smooth, who took you
Downtown.
Full Transcrpt.
The fact that you ignored all of this and instead choose to argue with Russell Simmons and whine that "he probably didn't even watch your segment" - even though he LINKED TO IT - and that he didn't appear on your show as if he'd been summoned to the royal court for a command appearance - shows that you don't even understand what the criticisms of your comments are truly about.
You seem to think you've discovered the magic fairy dust of black upward mobility, but you haven't. Russell, who actually knows something about upward mobility said so right here. http://globalgrind.com/...
When this country closes 50 schools in black communities and continues to build more prisons, I know that young people see through the institutionalized bullshit that is laid out in front of them every single day of their lives. The lucky ones, like you and me, owe a real explanation of the problems in our community to the ones who are still living in struggle, not some old, conservative talking points left in the garbage from Mitt Romney's campaign. I understand personal responsibility far too well, but you can't ask them to pull up their pants and then stand idle as they fear getting shot in the heart by wannabe cops while walking home to watch basketball games.
If you want to tell the rest of America this weekend when you go back on CNN how we fix black America, tell them to re-start the"War on Poverty" Tell them to end the failed "War on Drugs" that has cost this nation over one trillion dollars and unjustly incarcerated a generation of black men. Tell them to support the President's plan for universal Pre-K, so no child enters elementary school having to play catch up with the other children who are fortunate enough to go to pre-school. Tell them make college affordable and obtainable for young students who come from low-income families. Tell them that the right to a healthy life should be universal and not just for the fortunate few. And lastly, tell them that young black men and women don't just need "role models" or "mentors" they need "sponsors" who are willing to offer them a job.
But You, Don Lemon, don't even respond to what Russell said about the War on Drugs, the need for a new War on Poverty, the need for sponsors, not just mentors, universal pre-K, universal healthcare and affordable college - you complain that wearing a daishiki is
totally different from "saggin"?
No, it's kinda not. Both are personal expressions people should be free to make even if they make other people uncomfortable.
Nowhere in your so-called solution to "black problems" did you even address the problems of poverty, gangs, guns or drugs. You had nothing to say about any of that. But y'know what's better than not "looking" like a gang-banger all day and all night? Not Being a Gang-Banger.
It's going to take more than changing someone look to change America. The fact you choose to continue pushing your false solutions pushed by people like O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Williams & Nugent, ignoring the many stronger and more substantive suggestions made by Russell, and Michael Eric Dyson and Jay Smooth shows that you really aren't about solutions at all Don.
You probably even think this blog post is really just all about you - don't cha?
Vyan
While you're pondering that Join Color of Change Campaign to Repeal Stand Your Ground Laws and get your asses Registered to Vote [Share the QR below], check out the Dreamdefenders.org and BlackYouthProject.com because at a certain point we have to start seriously thinking and acting on what happens #AfterTrayvon
1:39 PM PT: Don Lemon With Tim Wise on 5 Things White People can do to Help Race Relations.
2:00 PM PT: Here's another clip where Mr. Lemon explains that his comments weren't intended as a way to fix, end or mend racism. Thank God, because they would be a total failure at that. He then includes a clip from Dr. King where he talks about a "Self Emancipation" and Malcolm X who talks about a "knowledge of self" of course that's perfectly fine and good. I still don't think Don's "recipe" would accomplish anything other than create the veneer of self-respect, rather than Actual self-respect.
He says his solutions may have been "Simple", but they were worse than that - they would be completely ineffective.
Lemon: Even if you do all the right things and make $Billion like Oprah, you will probably still face discrimination. Welcome to Life. However the idea that discipline, respect and education mean "Acting White" is just ludicrous, then what is "Acting Black"
The fact that he's even asking that question shows that he's truly doesn't get it. Having discipline, respect and education means "Acting White"? Then what are all the students at Howard University think they're doing? What do all the student at Morehouse think of themselves? That they're getting an education just to be more "White"?
I seriously doubt it.