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BET Founder Takes on Obama's Race Issue
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Posted By:
Fred Hampton at 04/17/2008 6:58:20 PM
Comment:
I certainly don't begrudge Bob Johnson the opportunity to promote the candidate of his choice. HOWEVER, I take great umbrage that he would allow himself to be used as the next dealer of the Clinton race card.
It???s cool if he wants to stump for Hilary. So, tell me why you support her, not that her opponent is doing well because he???s Black. It didn???t make sense when Bill Clinton hinted at that, nor when Ferraro said it. It's quite simply race-baiting and unnecessary. I???m sure that no one has forgotten that Barack Obama is Black. I suspect he???ll be Black for quite a while, possibly even after the campaign.
There are too many issues for the candidates to debate: the ???wars??? (drugs, terror, poverty), health care, education, economics, immigration policy, the mortgage crisis, etc.
Get out the way, Bob! Grown folks are trying to have a sensible discussion. Don???t bring that bullspit to the table! -
Posted By:
Fred Hampton at 04/17/2008 6:54:36 PM
Comment:
I certainly don't begrudge Bob Johnson the opportunity to promote the candidate of his choice. HOWEVER, I take great umbrage that he would allow himself to be used as the next dealer of the Clinton race card.
It???s cool if he wants to stump for Hilary. So, tell me why you support her, not that her opponent is doing well because he???s Black. It didn???t make sense when Bill Clinton hinted at that, nor when Ferraro said it. I???m sure that no one has forgotten that Barack Obama is Black. I suspect he???ll be Black for quite a while, possibly even after the campaign.
There are too many issues for the candidates to debate: the ???wars??? (drugs, terror, poverty), health care, education, economics, immigration policy, the mortgage crisis, etc.
Get out the way, Bob! Grown folks are trying to have a sensible discussion. Don???t bring that bullshit to the table! -
Posted By:
kid5rivers at 04/16/2008 10:49:03 PM
Comment:
His initials are BJ. Which could also mean bulljit. -
Posted By:
bringbackmalcolm at 04/16/2008 4:04:03 PM
Comment:
Mr. Johnson, Mr. Johnson. First, lets look at the numbers: Black people were split between Clinton and Obama (according to polls) last fall, after Clinton had been leading substantially. Obviously, like many white voters of all ages, they saw something in him that swayed them to his camp.
I am really disturbed by 'Mister' and I can't help wondering, seeing who his audience is, what is his motive. Is he dismissing the obvious gifts that Obama has? Is he hating? And as far as race being an advantage, his purchase of the Bobcats was the biggest Affirmative Action grab of all time.
I am trying very hard not to be unfair to Mister. But let me tell you this quick story: years ago, in the mid-fifties, my brother brought home from school a storybook of 'Little Black Sambo'. My father ripped it up and threw it in the garbage. Over the years I figured out that we need to be in control of own image, and always preached this (to whoever had the patience to listen). Then one day I happen to catch BET.... well, you know the rest. -
Posted By:
cxand at 04/16/2008 3:29:19 PM
Comment:
Pay attention Chilluns': Remember when your grandmama cut her eyes in a certain person's direction and called him/her a "Hankerchief Head Negro" and you wondered why she was saying that? Well...... I give you Bob Johnson as exhibit A!!! -
Posted By:
Gleslie at 04/16/2008 2:26:48 PM
Comment:
So this is where we've gotten too. The Clinton's have enlisted a man who has exploited black comedians and displayed thug culture as black culture, denigrating the leading Democratic candidate for president, only because he is black. What hypocrisy! So, we're to believe and accept HIS words because he's a successful black man? Now, that is not only disrepectful to the black community, it's patronizing and condenscending as well. For him to enjoin the comments made by Geralidne Ferraro is not only inexplicable but disingenuous.
Geraldine Ferraro, was selected by one person or committe to run as vice-president, the registered democratic voters didn't have a choice. Barack Obama has been chosen by the democratic majority as the best of the options available. There in lies the difference between the two. One was thrust upon us, the other is being selected by the people!
The Clinton campaign should just come right out and say what they've been whispering all along, that they think Barack is uneliectable because he is black! Which is the gist of their message. But the funny thing is, our current president put to rest the "unelectable" tag long ago. If he got elected with his baggage, an intellectual, accomplished, charasmatic leader who happens to be black shouldn't have a problem! - Gilbert Leslie -
Posted By:
Timoteo at 04/16/2008 1:29:25 PM
Comment:
I understand Bob Johnson's support of the Clintons. In fact, I applaud it. He's loyal. That's beautiful. I also applaud Bill Richardson's decision to support Barack Obama, despite his long friendship with the Clintons. Each of these men did what he felt was right, for their own reasons.
At the same time, when it comes to the race issue, Bob Johnson disappoints me. He's still a black man, and knows what that entails in this country. Obama has tried time and time again to remove race from this primary process, yet it's the Clintons and others (the media) that continually bring things back to the fact that he's black. Johnson is right in that the Obama campaign has rabbit ears when it comes to the race issue. What choice do they have? The Clinton campaign has used race negatively whenever they lose, because liberal or conservative, they know that using race will get them what they want - white fear of a black man being in charge. The fact that Johnson is a party to this is disappointing. Geraldine Ferraro's comments were IGNORANT, and didn't contain a grain of truth. SHE invoked race, then accused the Obama campaign of playing the race card. She wanted it both ways. If we want to see race disappear from the process, it's easy - whites should stop invoking it and just run their campaign against Obama the politician. Not Obama the black man. Frankly, all Obama really has to do to play the race card is SHOW HIS FACE. He doesn't have to utter a word... -
Posted By:
colgrubb at 04/16/2008 1:02:11 PM
Comment:
Mr. Johnson's legacy is BET, a TV station that had an opportunity to portray and project black people as decent human beings. Instead, he has enriched himself and given well-thinking black people a channel to assidiously avoid. I am not really surprised by his comment -- it merely displays his jealousy and "crab in the barrel" mentality. As for his being a "long-time friend of the Clintons", WHOOPEE. With friends like those, who needs enemies. -
Posted By:
growth12 at 04/16/2008 12:07:20 PM
Comment:
SoWackoSistah,
There's already an unspoken rule book for what black people can and cannot say in this country, so why shouldn't there be one for white people? But seriously, I get the feeling that many establishment blacks are attacking Obama because he won't play the game they've played since Reconstruction--middleman between whites and blacks. Thank god Obama's not playing the stoolie card. Most of us, white, black, and other, realize that politics as usual is not working for any of us. As for Bob Johnson, he is a ridiculous, hypocritical shyster. I hope his "empire" goes down in scandal and flames. God bless you for supporting Mrs. Clinton, but don't be surprised if she turns her back on her loyal black contingent if she's elected. This is the lady whose husband eradicated blue-collar jobs (NAFTA), put more children into poverty (welfare "reform"), and gave corporate America huge tax bennies. I'm quite cynical about the ability of any of the candidates to make any kind of reform at this late stage in U.S. capitalism, but I fear Mrs. Clinton more than I do Obama OR McCain. -
Posted By:
drmicro at 04/16/2008 11:41:44 AM
Comment:
Why is it that we are stuck in time. Johnson has no idea what Barack Obama is saying about the way things really are. It seems that no one can see the big picture. We are stuck in a religous dream. -
Posted By:
423earl at 04/16/2008 10:46:30 AM
Comment:
Is Bob Johnson in Black face is one funny Billionaire. -
Posted By:
Lindz42 at 04/16/2008 10:41:14 AM
Comment:
We can't seiously take anything from the mind or mouth of Bob Johnson, the very same man who has done as much as any of the other alphabet racial terrorist organizations to directly hurt and degraded an entire group of people. Bob Johnson is the worst kind of sell-out - he's used his position and platform to twist and obscure all of the facts and circumstances to fit the ever-changing narrative of his handlers. It's interesting that Mr. Johnson didn't seem to have a problem or platform, early in the campaign, when Sen. Clinton was the recipient of overwhelming black support. This man is just the latest in a long line of people who will say or do anything for "thirty pieces of silver." -
Posted By:
Independent Brother at 04/16/2008 10:16:02 AM
Comment:
Johnson is a shameful embarrassment to our people. While he has every right to attack Obama on the issues, he should not do so at the expense of the hardworking brothers and sisters who helped build his fortune, which allows him the privilege of having a voice in this historical election. To whom much is given??? -
Posted By:
POLpursun at 04/16/2008 8:58:08 AM
Comment:
In deference to being succinct, this is the same Johnson fellow who founded that entity which monetized significant amounts of obscenity and vulgarity ------- despicable!
So now he is associated with another despicable spectacle --------- otherwise referenced as the Clinton campaign. -
Posted By:
evpace at 04/16/2008 8:56:40 AM
Comment:
Mr. Johnson would not be a top businessman if hewere not black and if then Mayor Marion Barry had not awarded his company a lucrative cable franchise/contract because of his black-minority satus, which the the voters of the District of Columbia supported. Shame on Mr. Johnson! -
Posted By:
Moxie_Nouveaux at 04/16/2008 6:39:58 AM
Comment:
Johnson really needs to go somewhere and sit down. Why is he even speaking out on this anyway? Why should one billionaire's opinion matter, and does he seriously expect people to listen to someone who's profitted from promoting negativity of blacks? All of the heavy promotion and "tough talk" he's going around doing, I got a feeling there's something in it for him.
Instead of constantly mouthing off, he needs to focus on his lame basketball team, the Charlotte Bobcats. -
Posted By:
Joe at 04/16/2008 12:54:22 AM
Comment:
I have vacillated between supporting Senator Clinton and Senator Obama I thought after his South Carolina speech he was the man, however that initial assessment has been fogged by his failure to attened not one but three gatherings of black folks in the past 120 days. Now I am at the point where I am wondering if the elitist label is not a truism.
Don't assume nothing is given -
Posted By:
alpha1906 at 04/16/2008 12:51:19 AM
Comment:
Billionaire Bob is a fool. -
Posted By:
ginen at 04/15/2008 9:09:40 PM
Comment:
If it were a white guy with Obama's oratorical skills, keen intellect, dedication to public service, policy knowledge and president of Harvard Law Review accomplishment he would already be the nominee (with 90% of the white vote}. Boy Johnson must really be beholden to the clintons. -
Posted By:
ginen at 04/15/2008 8:51:23 PM
Comment:
If it were a white guy with Obama's oratorical skills, keen intellect, dedication to public service, policy knowledge and president of Harvard Law Review accomplishment he would already be the nominee (with 90% of the white vote}. Boy Johnson must really be beholden to the clintons. -
Posted By:
alpha1906 at 04/15/2008 8:16:24 PM
Comment:
Billionaire Bob is simply a fool. -
Posted By:
sportif at 04/15/2008 7:56:40 PM
Comment:
The trash man speaks...as he did when he was peddling to the Black community. He is painfully "old school", and mostly irrelevant. He hates being ignored. Let him be. -
Posted By:
dahled at 04/15/2008 7:10:36 PM
Comment:
Are we really going to take anything that Bob "guns and hoes" Johnson has to say about anything seriously? HRC should be loosing whatever support she has in the black community for simply having him in her corner. I mean, damn, I prefer Alan Keys to Bob. -
Posted By:
audiodramatist at 04/15/2008 5:53:21 PM
Comment:
Let us examine exactly where minstrelsy comes from???
It is started by a white person, imitating a black person; then taken up by a black person, so that black person can recreate the original black person doing an entertaining, though ridiculous and degrading thing.
Hum-m-mm, i???d say that just about sums up the machinations of Mr. Bob pretty well. Missy Hillary can have him.
In fact, just keep Mr. unoriginal for as long as possible, and as far away as possible from decent thinking folk. -
Posted By:
spartan54 at 04/15/2008 5:53:06 PM
Comment:
During his campaigning for Hillary Clinton, Bob Johnson has consistently demonstrated the mentality that contributed to BET being a joke of a television network and a platform of minstrel television. First, Johnson is WRONG. Clinton was the leading candidate among black voters during the embryonic stage of the presidential race (largely in part to the ignorant notion that her husband was the first black president). Second, there is nothing wrong with Bob Johnson, Emmanuel Cleaver, or any other black person supporting Clinton. However, when they engage in personal attacks against Obama and try to marginalize his candidacy or undermine his accomplishments based upon race, they demonstrate the age old "crab mentality" that can be found in some aspects of the black community. In supporting Ferraro's comments, Johnson clearly does not GET IT. During this campaign, Obama has demonstrated the political skill, savvy, knowledge, and dedication, which have led to his status as the leading Democratic presidential nominee. If all it took was being black to be successful in politics, Obama's candidacy would not be as historic as it is, there would be more than one black U.S. senator, there would be more than a couple of black governors, etc. Once again, Johnson has shown us that despite his billionaire status, he is one of the metaphorical crabs in the barrel pulling out all the stops to prevent another from getting out. -
Posted By:
spartan54 at 04/15/2008 5:27:46 PM
Comment:
During his campaigning for Hillary Clinton, Bob Johnson has consistently demonstrated the mentality that has contributed to BET being a joke of a television network and a platform for minstrel television. First, Johnson is WRONG. Clinton was the leading candidate among black voters during the embryonic stage of the presidential race (largely because of the ignorant notion that her husband was the first black president). Second, there is nothing wrong for Johnson, Emmanuel Cleaver, or any other black person to support Clinton, however when they engage in personal attacks against Obama and try to marginalize his candidacy or diminish his accomplishments based on his race they exemplify the age old "crab mentality." By supporting the statements by Ferraro, Johnson clearly does not GET IT. Obama has demonstrated the skills, hard work, knowledge, and dedication, which have led him to being the leading Democratic candidate for President. If all it took was being black to be successful in politics, one would think that the U.S. would have had a black presidential nominee by now, or more than one black current U.S. senator, etc. Johnson is simply one of those metaphorical crabs in the barrell trying to keep all others from getting out. -
Posted By:
Tallulah Bankhead at 04/15/2008 4:33:26 PM
Comment:
Please read 40 Million Dollar Slaves by William C. Rhoden on how Bob Johnson uses his race when it comes to pursuing his robber baron type business plans such as acquiring his basketball team. So I guess when he does it, it's not racial ?
I can't listen to anything he has to say without double checking if I still have my pocketbook. -
Posted By:
anniemcw at 04/15/2008 4:00:43 PM
Comment:
Is he serious? Wasn't HRC polling as the lead candidate among black voters initially? -
Posted By:
soWaco Sistah at 04/15/2008 2:47:32 PM
Comment:
I, too, am concerned with Obama's campaign's infringing upon our first amendmemt rights.It appears that any questions, comparisons with
Black politicians or criticisms are attacked as racist. African-Ameruicans who dare questiion Obama have been subjected to mean spirited , personal attacks.
This man is not " the savior", He is an ambitous, skilled politicians who left the carnage of Black politicans in his path on the way up.
If, elected , wiil David Axlerod, publish a directory of what white people can say about Obama? Will there be instructions for each race in post-racial America under President Obama? -
Posted By:
Big Word at 04/15/2008 2:07:35 PM
Comment:
I don't think Obama got 90 percent of the Black vote until the media spun a few of Bilary's comments that way. Obama is an exceptional rhetorician and one of the finest public speakers in politics today. If he didn't excel at those two things, or were facing opponents who had a fraction of the talent he has he wouldn't have a chance in this or any election cycle. I hope people don't see comments like the above and automatically assume that Obama must be the recipient of some type of affrimative action for black presidential candidate.
What further irritates me is his implication that black people are somehow wrong for supporting the first viable black canadidate for president. That logic is specious and truly elitist. He must think Black people owe the Clintons for something. He's got that wrong too. -
Posted By:
kid5rivers at 04/15/2008 1:04:21 PM
Comment:
Forum rules prevent me from saying what I want to say. Nuff said! -
Posted By:
maj13 at 04/15/2008 1:03:34 PM
Comment:
It appears that Mr. Johnson and others who do not want to accept that Senator Obama offers a true choice and not the status quo (the Clintons). For me, as a Mother, Sister, Friend and Veteran, I???m living in a movement that challenges all of us to put up or shut up about ???race??? because ???race??? will always be with us until we meet it head-on and work together to change this great nation for its own good. So, when I read the Declaration of Independence to my future grandchildren they will know what our nation did by electing Senator Obama to make these words true in deeds and actions, ???We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness???! -
Posted By:
jlee at 04/15/2008 12:49:18 PM
Comment:
how is it hillary not even being a resident of NY state could just buy a house run for office and become senator. didn't this have to do with whom she was married to, and as well as a shrewd white woman with money? the idea that mccain would be a better "commander in chief" because he actually served in the military, isn't this similar to saying obama is lucky because he's black? how fortunate is mccain that he's married to heiress to largest beer distributor? what mccain was just joe blow who's a vet and was a senator from az?
politics is all about who one is, and every candidate is riding on the coattails of something or someone. -
Posted By:
Chocolate01 at 04/15/2008 12:40:16 PM
Comment:
I once supported BET simply BECAUSE a black man owned it, despite the mysogeny and obscenity of it all. Additionally, Bob Johnson is one of the signatories of the letter that was recently sent to the DNC trying to coerce things to go their way. I now regret ever having supported BET (for more than one reason) and wish I could rescind every one of my penney's that went that way. Bob Johnson should be ashamed of himself. He's another of those crabs in the barrell that want to be the only one to get out, but will be the first to pull back another that's trying to get out. But Johnson can just suck it up because Obama WILL surmount these obstacles and be the first real black President of the United States.
Go Obama! -
Posted By:
cacy at 04/15/2008 12:29:51 PM
Comment:
Bob Johnson needs to lean back and shut the hell up. I have little respect for this black billionaire who, through BET, when he was there and after he left, reduced black women to pieces of shaking meat. -
Posted By:
prbqp at 04/15/2008 11:27:19 AM
Comment:
Are we suppose to seriously consider the words of someone who built his empire on the behinds of black women?! -
Posted By:
prbqp at 04/15/2008 11:26:24 AM
Comment:
Why are we suppose to take seriously the man who built his empire on the behinds of black women?!-
Posted By:
423earl at 04/16/2008 10:46:52 AM
Comment:
Enter Your Comment
So true
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