Time for Jackson, Sharpton to Step Down

[DixieFlatline]

http://sports.aol.com/whitlock/_a/time-for-jackson-sharpton-to-step-down/20070411111509990001

Time for Jackson, Sharpton to Step Down

Pair See Potential for Profit, Attention in Imus Incident

By JASON WHITLOCK

AOL

Sports Commentary

I’m calling for Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, the president and vice president of Black America, to step down.

Their leadership is stale. Their ideas are outdated. And they don’t give a damn about us.

We need to take a cue from White America and re-elect our leadership every four years. White folks realize that power corrupts. That’s why they placed term limits on the presidency. They know if you leave a man in power too long he quits looking out for the interest of his constituency and starts looking out for his own best interest.

We’ve turned Jesse and Al into Supreme Court justices. They get to speak for us for a lifetime.

Why?

If judged by the results they’ve produced the last 20 years, you’d have to regard their administration as a total failure. Seriously, compared to Martin and Malcolm and the freedoms and progress their leadership produced, Jesse and Al are an embarrassment.

Their job the last two decades was to show black people how to take advantage of the opportunities Martin and Malcolm won.

Have we at the level we should have? No.

Rather than inspire us to seize hard-earned opportunities, Jesse and Al have specialized in blackmailing white folks for profit and attention. They were at it again last week, helping to turn radio shock jock Don Imus’ stupidity into a world-wide crisis that reached its crescendo Tuesday afternoon when Rutgers women’s basketball coach Vivian Stringer led a massive pity party/recruiting rally.

Hey, what Imus said, calling the Rutgers players "nappy-headed hos," was ignorant, insensitive and offensive. But so are many of the words that come out of the mouths of radio shock jocks/comedians.

Imus’ words did no real damage. Let me tell you what damaged us this week: the sports cover of Tuesday’s USA Today. This country’s newspaper of record published a story about the NFL and crime and ran a picture of 41 NFL players who were arrested in 2006. By my count, 39 of those players were black.

You want to talk about a damaging, powerful image, an image that went out across the globe?

We’re holding news conferences about Imus when the behavior of NFL players is painting us as lawless and immoral. Come on. We can do better than that. Jesse and Al are smarter than that.

Had Imus’ predictably poor attempt at humor not been turned into an international incident by the deluge of media coverage, 97 percent of America would’ve never known what Imus said. His platform isn’t that large and it has zero penetration into the sports world.

Imus certainly doesn’t resonate in the world frequented by college women. The insistence by these young women that they have been emotionally scarred by an old white man with no currency in their world is laughably dishonest.

The Rutgers players are nothing more than pawns in a game being played by Jackson, Sharpton and Stringer.

Jesse and Al are flexing their muscle and setting up their next sting. Bringing down Imus, despite his sincere attempts at apologizing, would serve notice to their next potential victim that it is far better to pay up than stand up to Jesse and Al James.

Stringer just wanted her 15 minutes to make the case that she’s every bit as important as Pat Summitt and Geno Auriemma. By the time Stringer’s rambling, rapping and rhyming 30-minute speech was over, you’d forgotten that Tennessee won the national championship and just assumed a racist plot had been hatched to deny the Scarlet Knights credit for winning it all.

Maybe that’s the real crime. Imus’ ignorance has taken attention away from Candace Parker’s and Summitt’s incredible accomplishment. Or maybe it was Sharpton’s, Stringer’s and Jackson’s grandstanding that moved the spotlight from Tennessee to New Jersey?

None of this over-the-top grandstanding does Black America any good.

We can’t win the war over verbal disrespect and racism when we have so obviously and blatantly surrendered the moral high ground on the issue. Jesse and Al might win the battle with Imus and get him fired or severely neutered. But the war? We don’t stand a chance in the war. Not when everybody knows “nappy-headed ho’s” is a compliment compared to what we allow black rap artists to say about black women on a daily basis.

We look foolish and cruel for kicking a man who went on Sharpton’s radio show and apologized. Imus didn’t pull a Michael Richards and schedule an interview on Letterman. Imus went to the Black vice president’s house, acknowledged his mistake and asked for forgiveness.

Let it go and let God.

We have more important issues to deal with than Imus. If we are unwilling to clean up the filth and disrespect we heap on each other, nothing will change with our condition. You can fire every Don Imus in the country, and our incarceration rate, fatherless-child rate, illiteracy rate and murder rate will still continue to skyrocket.

A man who doesn’t respect himself wastes his breath demanding that others respect him.

We don’t respect ourselves right now. If we did, we wouldn’t call each other the N-word. If we did, we wouldn’t let people with prison values define who we are in music and videos. If we did, we wouldn’t call black women ****es and hos and abandon them when they have our babies.

If we had the proper level of self-respect, we wouldn’t act like it’s only a crime when a white man disrespects us. We hold Imus to a higher standard than we hold ourselves. That’s a (freaking) shame.

We need leadership that is interested in fixing the culture we’ve adopted. We need leadership that makes all of us take tremendous pride in educating ourselves. We need leadership that can reach professional athletes and entertainers and get them to understand that they’re ambassadors and play an important role in defining who we are and what values our culture will embrace.

It’s time for Jesse and Al to step down. They’ve had 25 years to lead us. Other than their accountants, I’d be hard pressed to find someone who has benefited from their administration.

[mjah]

That's what a lack of self-respect gets you: Selfish, loutish leadership that has no respect for its constituency.

And it's not somehow limited only to Black America. Take the White House.

...Please!

Thanks, and don't forget to tip your waitress.

But seriously, everyone sucks and we're all screwed.

[cyfar]

:munchout:

[Leonard Washington]

*edited for sensitivity*

i don't feel that jackson or sharpton represent me. despite their motivations they do have a voice that's heard and sometimes they are helping other people than themselves. they are doing/done a lot more for black people than i have, so i can't really knock them.

[LeesburgSkinFan]

When is Sharpton going to apologize to the Duke lacrosse players?

[Mad Mike]

*edited for sensitivity*

i don't feel that jackson or sharpton represent me. despite their motivations they do have a voice that's heard and sometimes they are helping other people than themselves. they are doing/done a lot more for black people than i have, so i can't really knock them.

I take it you are a black man and you feel that it's OK to use such langage to describe Whitlock. But how is it that I'm a white man and *I* find it offensive? Take a cue and show some respect for your fellow man regardless of color. :doh:

[Leonard Washington]

I take it you are a black man and you feel that it's OK to use such langage to describe Whitlock. But how is it that I'm a white man and *I* find it offensive? Take a cue and show some respect for your fellow man regardless of color. :doh:

i beat you to it. it was reactionary and i realized that it was inappropriate.

[Sweet Sassy Molassy]

*edited for sensitivity*

i don't feel that jackson or sharpton represent me. despite their motivations they do have a voice that's heard and sometimes they are helping other people than themselves. they are doing/done a lot more for black people than i have, so i can't really knock them.

I don't know.

I applaud Whitlock's effort. Having had personal experience with both Sharpton and Jackson, I definitely agree that they have done a very poor job in "Leading" Black America. What he says is spot on, and the priorities that people such as Joseph Lowery, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, etc. have is extremely misplaced, and I agree that these so called leaders need to be replaced, or at least questioned by the black community.

[Air Force Cane]

kudos to J Whitlock- but if you think those two are ever going to give up the extortion racket- you haven't been on this earth too long

[warren]

When is Sharpton going to apologize to the Duke lacrosse players?

I can guarantee he will never appologize to those players. He will dance around the question.... and then explain how demeaning it was for the players to have hired black strippers in the first place.

[heyholetsgogrant]

I'm glad they fired IMUS especially after he raised his right hand and said he would never say a racist joke again. However, I was watching Scarborough country, because I had some time to kill and I was just done watching the countdown. I usually never watch conservative show, but I thought Scarborough brought up a good point. What if we borrowed the lady basketball teams IPODS for 5min and see whats on them? I bet we would find some racially insensitive/demeaning music on at least of few of them...

-Grant

[Mad Mike]

i beat you to it. it was reactionary and i realized that it was inappropriate.

I'm glad, and I respect that you realized it.

[Shadowplay]

The list of political and moral "high ground" leaders in the black community that have sought to take advantage of their followers is long and distinguished. One only has to look at DC and PG County to see this.

I like Whitlock a lot, he totally got shafted by ESPN for not taking the company line but they let others continue with their slanted opinions. I think for the most part he's right on. I'm amazed that no one has talked about Stringer's press conference who made it sound like her players are going to be wearing a scarlet letter for the rest of their lives.

[megared]

i beat you to it. it was reactionary and i realized that it was inappropriate.

I tend to agree with you. I find it hard to take Whitlock serious when he's either attacking other black men or further perpetuating a stereotype that doesn't need any added momentum to it.

He seems to have an agenda...I mean the guy compared himself to Rosa-freakin'-Parks. Tell me more about how BET & MTV are ruining our country when I see a failing educational system, a higher unemployment rate for blacks, higher incarceration rate...& you tell me I should take Ludicris to task?

[Guest sith lord]

I'm glad they fired IMUS especially after he raised his right hand and said he would never say a racist joke again. However, I was watching Scarborough country, because I had some time to kill and I was just done watching the countdown. I usually never watch conservative show, but I thought Scarborough brought up a good point. What if we borrowed the lady basketball teams IPODS for 5min and see whats on them? I bet we would find some racially insensitive/demeaning music on at least of few of them...

-Grant

The difference is that what's on their ipods is for their own personal use, not for the entire world to hear and Scarborough didn't bring up a good point. All he's doing is assuming about something he has no proof to back up. He doesn't know what kind of music these young ladies listen to and he doesn't even know if they have ipods.

[81artmonk]

Jackson and Sharpton are sharlitons!! Hypocrits and are self-serving. What scares me, is that they can call the president of NBC and CBS and get someone fired!!

Now they are calling on the FCC to regulate speech. I'm just waiting for the brownshirts to start goose steping down my street!! What Imus said was stupid, but considering what black rappers and others say all the time it wasn't offensive. Just becasue your black doesn't give you a pass.

I said it before, if it offends you turn off the station! As offensive as something may be to someone, I don't want it regulated, because than my speech will be regulated. Free speech is just that, no matter what is said by whom!!

[Guest sith lord]

But back on topic, I think it's time for Bush to step down. Seriously, why do any of you care about Jackson or Sharpton? They're not elected officials. What they say and do doesn't effect any of you.

[Thanos]

Funny thing.Folks cry about civil rights leaders and groups until their civil rights are violated.

BTW America there are other Black leaders who head organizations and make policy.But the media continues to fix on those two for some odd reason.

[skinsdude]

Jackson and Sharpton are sharlitons!! Hypocrits and are self-serving. What scares me, is that they can call the president of NBC and CBS and get someone fired!!

Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton did not get Imus fired. They had nothing whatsoever to do with it. They do not remotely have that amount of influence. :doh:

[Major Harris]

.But the media continues to fix on those two for some odd reason.

that's a very good point. i wonder why that is. i know they go out of their way to be all over the media, but why does the media go along with it? a question that i surely can't answer.

[Spaceman Spiff]

that's a very good point. i wonder why that is. i know they go out of their way to be all over the media, but why does the media go along with it? a question that i surely can't answer.

Well, in Jackson's case, he hearkens back to the 60's. The last of a breed, I suppose you could say.

Sharpton just cries a lot. Squeaky wheel gets the oil.

[headexplode]

"Had Imus’ predictably poor attempt at humor not been turned into an international incident by the deluge of media coverage, 97 percent of America would’ve never known what Imus said. His platform isn’t that large and it has zero penetration into the sports world.

Imus certainly doesn’t resonate in the world frequented by college women. The insistence by these young women that they have been emotionally scarred by an old white man with no currency in their world is laughably dishonest."

These are my favorite two paragraphs.

Don Imus is irrelevant. Always has been, always will be. There is racism and stupidity all over the world. Getting one douchebag kicked off the air is not going to fix that. Trying to ban words we don't like won't either. What will help is an honest open discussion with each other about what race is, where it comes from, and how this slight physiological variation has been exploited by governments and warlords for thousands of years in order to divide and conquer. This conversation cannot end. To me, it's the most important discussion we can have. Skin color and eye shape and hair types do not make a person. Human beings are the same no matter their religion, no matter their color, no matter their sexual orientation. They are, however, subject to exploitation by other human beings--they are shaped by environmental conditions and social landscapes of which they have little control. When we think in terms of race or religion or nationality we dehumanize people and render them inchoate representations of abstract ideas rather than individual living, breathing beings who suffer and are put upon by "righteous" visionaries and warmongers.

Racism, I believe, as with sexism and homophobia, is wholly unnatural. In other words, I think it is an idea that has to be planted and maintained and harvested by whatever parties that might gain from such crops. As a child, race is not something that is even considered until you meet someone whose parents planted in them the idea that certain people are worthless and shouldn't be empathized with. This idea was planted in the parents at a certain time.

Of course, governments and religious orders have a vested interest in diving the people. If the people hate each other so much, there's no way they could possibly united against a corrupt and evil government or religious order. The United States government knew that very well and so manufactured racial hatred and exaggerated racial differences. So did the powers that came here before. Columbus raped and murdered millions of indigenous peoples by virtue of the idea that these "savages" were not humans but beasts who were to be conquered and, if not enslaved, then destroyed.

So, now, after over 400 years of institutionalized racism and hatred, and millions of lives lost and many millions more gallons of blood shed we are, hopefully, heading towards a brighter future. Don Imus can't stop that with blithe comments about female basketball players. The Jacksons and Sharptons can't stop that with their personal agendas. What can stop that is trying to hide these folks away, and pretend that it's not there anymore. Because it is. And it will be for a long time to come. And if we stop viewing each other in terms of meaningless distinctions and start thinking about the bigger picture, we might just get to a place one day where MLK's dream does becomes a reality, not just an illusion brought to you by Coke.

[DjTj]

that's a very good point. i wonder why that is. i know they go out of their way to be all over the media, but why does the media go along with it? a question that i surely can't answer.

The media is lazy. It's a lot easier to find the loudest voice than the right one.

I think Whitlock made a mistake even referring to Jackson and Sharpton as the Presidents of Black America. There are governors and congressmen and Senators and Generals and Supreme Court Justices that have far more power and influence than Jackson and Sharpton ... Barack Obama has a real chance at becoming the President of all of America.

Jackson and Sharpton are Presidents of angry black America only in the way that Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly are Presidents of bitter white America ... they may be leaders on particular issues or particular causes, but they are not leaders of men.

[Major Harris]

The media is lazy. It's a lot easier to find the loudest voice than the right one.

I think Whitlock made a mistake even referring to Jackson and Sharpton as the Presidents of Black America. There are governors and congressmen and Senators and Generals and Supreme Court Justices that have far more power and influence than Jackson and Sharpton ... Barack Obama has a real chance at becoming the President of all of America.

Jackson and Sharpton are Presidents of angry black America only in the way that Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly are Presidents of bitter white America ... they may be leaders on particular issues or particular causes, but they are not leaders of men.

djtj....always has the answer.

[DCsportsfan53]

Funny thing.Folks cry about civil rights leaders and groups until their civil rights are violated.

BTW America there are other Black leaders who head organizations and make policy.But the media continues to fix on those two for some odd reason.

that's a very good point. i wonder why that is. i know they go out of their way to be all over the media, but why does the media go along with it? a question that i surely can't answer.

It's wierd, isn't it? I don't know, I think part of it is that the media likes to find blacks they're comfortable with and stick with them. Just look at movies, it's like the same 4 black actors in every freakin movie. Need a black female in a serious role? I'd bet money it'll be Halle Berry.