Jesse Jackson Likens Cavs Owner to a Slave Owner and Lebron to a Runaway Slave

Did I miss something? Has something happened that should lead us to believe that Sarah Palin is a "douchebag, racist bigot"

 

Sorry - in my previous post, I copied and pasted rocketsjudoka's quote here into the quote in my post and forgot to change the name. I mis-attributed that quote to glynch.

 

Jesse Jackson is a moron. And no, I didn't factor race into making that statement at all.

 

Yeah, a community leader and politician likening LeBron being offered millions of dollars to play basketball to slavery is so much less irresponsible than the angry ramblings of a team owner that had been spurned by a home grown star athlete on national TV.

 

I think that pretty much everyone who has been involved in this saga (Lebron with his TV show, the owner with his hurt feelings overreaction, David Stern who is sucking up to Lebron) have been acting like idiots, so it is no surprise that media w**** Jesse Jackson is jumping into the fray and acting like an idiot as well, playing the race card as usual. That is how he makes a living. His whole existence is based on playing the race card.

 

Reading comprehension can often help you avoid saying stupid things. From other posts in this thread:

I never argued he was never relevant. I am arguing he is not currently relevant.

I have given you specific examples of the influence with politicans, bloggers, radio and TV personalities. You have yet to be able to specify a single example with Jesse Jackson. Again, why is that so difficult? If he's as influential as you claim, there should be plenty of examples where he's influencing public opinion.

If he comes out in favor of or against health care reform, or financial reform, or immigration reform, does anyone care? Does it move the needle? Because when Beck or Palin or Obama or Bachmann or the DailyKos or RedState guys do so, they are able to influence actual opinions. The only time JJ seems to be still relevant is when he says stupid things. And that's because it's entertaining, not because he's influential.

 

Jesse plays the race card because racism doesn't exist in Mayberry. When black Ivy league professors are arrested at their own homes, when unarmed minorities are shot in the back by the police, when black men get beat up on tape or get plunger raped by a gang of cops, when black school kids are charged with attempted murder for getting into a school fight in a white town... it's just a coincidence that these things only happen to minorities time and time again. The next time you race card b****ing usual suspect bunch of hypocrites march on a small town in Alabama or protest a police station or demand justice for the affected or do anything to support or defend the rights of those that are constantly violated will be the first time.

 

Jesse Jackson is an idiot.......


Being of African descent I am offended by his actions and feel a strong urge to kick him in the testicles.

This is up there with the Soulja Boy "shout out to the slave masters"


/thread

 

Why are we talking about Jackson. He has influence. A specific example is this whole thread and Whitlock's article. It should not be so difficult for you to understand since you are responding in this thread.

Jessie used to be on Nightline and the news shows regularly. There is an example. We can agree that for whatever reason he is not on as much now.

I would argue that one reason is that he has been successfully and unwarrantly demonized by conservatives in the age of Bush.

 

Jackson has influence. Just ask his son and the Busch brewery about his influence. Nice of Daddy to set his kiddo up with a distributorship.

 

I said the same thing right after reading the transcript. It was as if the cavs owner lost his best slave. When talking anbout ownership and possession of another person, thats where the slave owner mentality was set. He was a free agent and didn't owe gilbert anything.

 

At first, I thought that this comment would have lost Jackson a LOT of credibility...but that hasnt been totally been the case.

I'm surprised at how many people connected with what he said. Even guys like Wilbon came out defending it.

 

I thought that Jackson made some very good points. The owner and the employee had a contractual relationship. If the owner had decided not to renew the contract would he have been equally demonized? For instance the Suns decided Amare was not worth the max, but the Knicks did, so who got bent out of shape.

Jackson's points about Curt Flood who broke the back of baseball's ability to control players in a nearly slave like fashion was a good point; likewise with Spencer Hayward.

I do wish Jackson had not made the slave relationship so explicit as his point might have been hear more, but he did raise some legitimate points.

 

Many folks use their influence to get relatives jobs or business connections. I could understand your ire if you had been similarly upset over Bush Sr. using connections to help out Dubya. I don't remember it.

 

There's a similar thread on Mel Gibson's stupid comments. It doesn't mean he has influence over any constituency. It just means a famous person said something controversial that was worth discussing.

*Used to*.

Possibly true - I don't really know enough about him to know why he's lost his influence. But that doesn't change the fact that, for whatever reason, he doesn't have it today.

 

Maybe not...but what about the community and organization that has supported him for 7 years? Does he owe them nothing?

I submit that LeBron did owe something to Gilbert after 7 years...a phone call. I suggest that Gilbert's reaction would have been different had he been given the courtesy of a phone call prior to the TV special.

Oh...and comparing wanting to pay somebody $16M a year to play basketball to slavery is just flat stupid.

 

While there is no question that Jesse's influence has waned, to discount his ability to stir the base and bring out the vote for elections is folly.

 

Lebron, the runaway slave, decided that he would take less food to go to a nicer plantation with bigger, stronger slaves that could help him get his daily work done. He also managed to leave his ass of a plantation owner Dan Gilbert for a much nicer "Masta" in Pat Riley.

The real question is, Is Lebron a house ninja or a field ninja?

 

I agree that LeBron owed the fans and the organization a better exit but the amount he was paid is irrelevant to the mindset that Jackson was describing. Of course paying someone isn't the same as slavery but he was talking about the mindset that James owed Gilbert anything more than an employee would owe an employer in such a situation. There is a disconnect between how the races believe race plays a role in society. The people who aren't negatively impacted by race seem to be the ones that think race isn't a factor and the ones that are impacted would tell you the opposite.